HV  UC-NRLF 

AT     COMMONWEALTH  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


DOCUMENTS 
DEFT. 


.PORT 


COMMISSION  TO  INVESTIGATE 
PENAL  SYSTEMS 


FLETCHER  W.  STITES,  Chairman 

ALFRED  F,  JONES  ALBERT  H.  VOTAW 

LOUIS  N.  ROBINSON  MARTHA  P.  FALCONER 


PHILADELPHIA 

IT.NNSYLVANIA 


GIFT   OF 


DOCUMENT! 
DCPT. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

REPORT  OF  COMMISSION  TO  INVESTIGATE  PENAL 

SYSTEMS. 

To   the  General  Assembly: 

Your  Commission  duly  appointed  pursuant  to  Act  of  the 
Legislature,  No.  409,  1917,  "to  investigate  the  prison  systems 
and  the  organization  and  management  of  correctional  institu- 
tions within  this  Commonwealth  and  elsewhere;  to  recommend 
such  revision  of  the  existing  prison  system  within  this  Com- 
monwealth, and  the  laws  pertaining  to  the  establishment,  main- 
tenance and  regulation  of  State  and  County  correctional  insti- 
tutions within  this  Commonwealth  as  it  shall  deem  wise,  and 
to  report  the  same  to  the  General  Assembly  at  the  session  of 
1919,"  respectfully  submits  the  following  report  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, together  with  its  conclusions  and  recommendations 
and  proposed  bills  for  carrying  the  same  into  effect. 

The  Commission  was  constituted  as  follows: 

Fletcher  W.  Stites,  Narberth,  Chairman, 
Alfred  E.  Jones,  Uniontown, 
Mrs.  Martha  P.  Falconer,  Darling  P.  O., 
Louis  N.  Robinson,  Swarthmore, 
Albert  H.  Votaw,  Philadelphia. 

On  November  i,  1917,  the  members  of  the  Commission  met 
in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  organization 
and  assigned  the  work  of  investigation  which  had  been  com- 
mitted to  it  to  the  several  members  thereof.  On  July  i,  1918, 
the  Commission  retained  Dr.  George  W.  Kirchwey,  of  New 
York  City,  as  its  counsel  to  direct  the  subsequent  course  of  the 
investigation  and  to  aid  the  Commission  with  his  counsel  and 
advice. 


895090 


2  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

I. 
SCOPE  OF  INVESTIGATION. 

The  Commission  was  fortunate  in  having  in  its  personnel  as 
thus  constituted  four  members,  including  its  counsel,  who  had 
through  long  experience  and  previous  investigations  acquired 
considerable  information  as  to  penal  institutions  and  their  man- 
agement in  this  and  other  States.  The  investigation  covered : — 

(1)  A  careful  study  and  analysis  of  the  laws  governing  penal 
conditions  and  institutions  in  this  Commonwealth; 

(2)  An  examination  of  the  six  correctional  institutions  di- 
rectly controlled  by  the  State,  namely: 

The  Eastern  Penitentiary,   at   Philadelphia ; 
The  Western  Penitentiary,  at  Pittsburgh; 
The  New  Central  Penitentiary,  at  Bellefonte; 
The  State  Industrial  Reformatory,  at  Huntingdon; 
The  Pennsylvania  Training  School,  at  Morganza; 
The  State  Industrial  Home  for  Women,  at  Muncy; 

(3)  A  similar  examination  of  the  Glen  Mills  Schools — the 
Girls'   Department,    Sleighton   Farms,   at   Darlington,   and  the 
Boys'  Department  at  Glen  Mills; 

(4)  A  similar  examination  of   the   Philadelphia   House   of 
Correction  and  of  the  County  Convict  Prison  at  Holmesburg, 
Moyamensing   Prison   in   Philadelphia,   the   Allegheny   County 
Workhouse  at  Hoboken  and  many  other  county  institutions; 

(5)  A  study  of  the  constitution,  organization  and  functions 
of  the  State  Board  of  Public  Charities,  and  specifically  of  those 
of  its  Committee  on  Lunacy; 

(6)  A  study  of  the  powers  and  activities   of  the   Prison 
Labor  Commission  instituted  under  the  Act  of  June  i,  1918; 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  3 

(7)  A  careful  survey  of  the  entire  history  of  the  penal  sys- 
tem of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  from  the  colonial 
period  down  to  the  present  time,  based  on  the  historical  re- 
search  of   Professor   Harry   E.    Barnes   of    Clark   University, 
Massachusetts ; 

(8)  An  investigation  of  significant  correctional  institutions 
in  several  other  States,  notably  in  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
Ohio.  : 

To  supplement  and  enlarge  the  range  of  these  inquiries  and 
studies,  the  Commission  was  permitted  to  avail  itself  of  the  re- 
sults of  previous  investigations  conducted  by  two  of  its  mem- 
bers; on  the  Employment  and  Compensation  of  Prisoners  in 
Pennsylvania,  by  Professor  Louis  N.  Robinson,  as  Secretary 
of  the  Penal  Commission  of  1913-1915,  and  on  the  county 
jails  and  workhouses,  made  periodically  from  1914  to  1918  by 
Albert  H.  Votaw,  as  Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Prison 
Society. 

The  Commission  desires  to  express  its  sense  of  deep  obliga- 
tion to  the  officials  and  inspectors  of  prisons  in  this  Common- 
wealth for  the  courtesy  and  hospitality  extended  to  its  mem- 
bers in  the  cotfrse  of  their  investigations.  It  also  acknowledges 
its  indebtedness  to  the  Secretary  and  members  of  the  Board  of 
Public  Charities  and  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Public  Charities 
Association  for  their  helpful  co-operation. 

The  Commission  has  heretofore  submitted  to  the  Governor 
two  preliminary  reports,  one  a  Special  Emergency  Report  on 
Prison  Labor,  bearing  date  September  i,  1918,  and  a  special 
report  on  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Women,  under  date 
of  September  15,  1918,  both  of  which  are  hereto  appended. 

While  both  these  reports  were  called  out  by  war  emergen- 
cies, the  former  by  the  dearth  of  labor  power  to  man  the  war 
industries  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  latter  by  the  need  of  pro- 
viding a  place  for  the  detention  and  treatment  of  the  large 
number  of  dissolute  women  convicted  of  offenses  against  Fed- 


4  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

eral  and  State  laws  enacted  for  the  protection  of  the  soldiers 
in  the  training  camps — the  Commission  believes  that  they  are 
still  pertinent  and  that  the  recommendations  which  they  con- 
tain should  form  a  part  of  any  constructive  scheme  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  penal  system  of  the  Commonwealth. 

II. 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  PENAL  SYSTEM  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  most  inspiring  and  significant  chapter  in  the  history  of 
penology  is  not  the  achievement  of  John  Howard  in  redeeming 
the  common  gaols  of  England  from  the  degradation  into  which 
they  had  fallen,  nor  of  Lord  Romilly  in  his  lifelong  struggle 
against  the  barbarities  of  the  English  penal  laws,  but  the  leader- 
ship which  for  more  than  a  century  the  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania  gave  to  the  world  both  in  prison  reform  and  in 
the  amelioration  of  the  penal  code.  The  two  former  were 
the  revolt  of  sensitive  and  humane  natures  against  hoary  abuses ; 
but  the  latter  was  all  this  and  something  more.  It  was  a  bold 
and  imaginative  reconstruction  of  the  whole  basis  of  penal  dis- 
cipline. As  far  back  as  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  Quaker  colonists  of  Pennsylvania  introduced  for 
the  first  time  the  practice  of  employing  imprisonment  at  hard 
labor  as  the  ordinary  method  of  punishing  anti-social  action. 
After  the  reversion  of  the  American  colonies  for  fifty  years  to 
the  barbarous  criminal  jurisprudence  of  the  mother  country, 
Pennsylvania  was  the  first  State,  the  first  community  in  the 
world,  to  break  with  this  system  and  to  substitute  imprisonment 
for  the  various  brutal  and  degrading  types  of  corporal  punish- 
ment. The  Walnut  Street  Jail  in  Philadelphia,  in  1790,  was 
the  earliest  institution  in  America  in  which  these  more  enlight- 
ened principles  were  put  into  practice.  From  this  second  begin- 
ning, for  a  period  of  forty  years,  Pennsylvania  was  elaborating 
and  perfecting  the  first  of  the  two  great  systems  of  penal  ad- 
ministration which  were  destined  to  dominate  the  penology  of 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  5 

the  civilized  world  during  the  ninetenth  century — the  separate 
confinement  of  malefactors.  Visited,  admired  and  imitated 
by  large  numbers  of  eminent  and  enthusiastic  European  penol- 
ogists,  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  at  Cherry  Hill  was  the  pivotal 
point  linking  American  and  European  penology  for  more  than  a 
generation  after  1830. 

Then  followed  that  long  period  of  inertia,  of  lassitude,  of 
marking  time,  which  is  so  apt  to  succeed  to  a  period  of  ardent 
reforming  energy  and  which  to  this  very  day  has  maintained  its 
spell  over  the  State  and  the  Nation. 

Not  that  there  have  not  in  the  last  half  century  been  notable 
improvements  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  penal  administra- 
tion, some  of  them  bold  enough  to  bring  America  from  time  to 
time  into  the  forefront  of  interest  and  example  to  the  penolo- 
gists  of  the  Old  World,  but  in  most  of  these  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania  has  been  content  to  play  a  secondary  role. 
Throughout  this  era  of  slackened  energy  she  has  not  cared  or 
dared  to  initiate,  to  lead,  to  "carry  on,"  but  has  followed  be- 
latedly and  afar  off  the  progress  of  other  States.  Examples  of 
this  are  the  Auburn  congregate  system,  which  divided  with  the 
Pennsylvania  system  of  solitary  confinement  the  interest  of 
European  as  well  as  of  American  penologists,  and  which  was 
adopted  in  the  Western  Penitentiary  in  1869,  a  ^u^  generation 
after  its  establishment  in  New  York  State,  and  which  has  only 
recently  conquered  the  parent  institution  on  Cherry  Hill;  the 
justly  famous  Elmira  experiment  of  progressive  classification 
and  industrial  training  of  inmates  embodied  in  the  Huntingdon 
Reformatory  in  1889,  and  the  long-promised  reformatory  for 
women  at  Muncy,  which  six  years  after  its  creation  by  legis- 
lative action,  has  not  yet  been  rendered  available  for  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  designed. 

The  first  step  in  the  development  of  an  intelligent  conception 
of  delinquency  and  its  treatment  came  not  in  an  accurate  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  crime  and  its  causes,  but  in  a  clearer 
and  more  correct  notion  of  the  function  of  punishment.  By 


6  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

1790  the  element  of  deterrence  in  punishment  was  recognized 
and  emphasized.  The  element  of  reformation  was  a  cardinal 
point  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for 
Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public  Prisons,  and  this  Society  did 
its  best  to  infuse  this  doctrine  into  the  Pennsylvania  system  of 
prison  administration.  Before  1830  it  was  very  generally  as- 
serted that  reformation,  as  well  as  deterrence  and  social  revenge, 
was  to  be  regarded  as  a  chief  aim  of  punishment,  though  the 
offender  was  still  regarded  as  an  unregenerate  free  moral  agent. 

This  theory  of  crime  received  a  severe  shock  in  the  "forties" 
from  the  investigations  of  Dorothea  L.  Dix  and  others,  who 
showed  the  great  prevalence  of  insanity  and  idiocy  among  the 
delinquent  classes.  It  could  scarcely  be  denied  even  by  the  tra- 
ditional jurists  that  the  exercise  of  free  will  was  likely  to  be 
seriously  impeded  by  insanity  or  feeble-mindedness.  From  1860 
to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  most  notable  ad- 
vances toward  a  more  intelligent  conception  of  crime  and  its 
treatment  consisted  in  the  gradual  but  definite  triumph  of  the 
notion  of  detention  and  punishment  as  agencies  for  reforma- 
tion rather  than  as  instruments  of  social  revenge. 

For  more  than  a  century  of  its  history  the  penal,  reforma- 
tory and  correctional  institutions  of  Pennsylvania  were  limited 
to  the  county  jails  and  the  few  and  scattered  workhouses,  which 
were  erected  mainly  in  conjunction  with  the  almshouses.  In 
the  jails  there  could  be  no  approach  to  anything  like  a  differen- 
tiated treatment  of  delinquents.  In  them  were  herded  promis- 
cuously those  imprisoned  for  debt,  those  convicted  of  crime  and 
those  accused  or  held  as  witnesses;  those  of  all  ages  and  both 
sexes;  those  convicted  of  all  categories  and  grades  of  crime 
punishable  by  imprisonment;  those  of  all  mental  states — normal, 
feeble-minded,  neurotic,  psychotic,  epileptic.  The  few  colonial 
workhouses  were  employed  as  little  more  than  an  agency  for 
suppressing  vagrancy. 

The  first  step  in  a  differentiated  treatment  of  crime  and  crim- 
inals came  with  the  erection  of  a  semi-state  prison  in  the  Walnut 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  7 

Street  Jail  in  1789-90.  This  provided  for  a  partial  differentia- 
tion between  those  convicted  of  the  more  serious  crimes  and 
those  convicted  of  petty  offenses  or  awaiting  trial.  It  did  not 
however,  attempt  any  scientific  differentiation  on  the  basis  of 
age,  sex  or  mental  state.  Children  and  adults,  male  and  female, 
sane  and  insane,  were  confined  in  contiguity.  The  opening  of 
the  State  penitentiaries  at  Allegheny  and  Philadelphia  in  1826 
and  1829,  with  their  fundamental  principle  of  solitary  confine- 
ment, carried  further  the  process  of  differentiation,  but  still  con- 
tinued to  apply  the  same  general  type  of  treatment  to  all  incar- 
cerated inmates.  It  was  a  system  of  separation  rather  than  of 
a  differentiated  treatment  of  special  types  of  prisoners. 

The  second  important  development  in  the  direction  of  spe- 
cialization in  the  provision  of  institutional  treatment  of  delin- 
quents appeared  in  the  establishment  of  a  House  of  Refuge 
for  juvenile  delinquents  in  Philadelphia  in  1828.  Though  this 
was  at  first  a  private  rather  than  a  State  institution  and  was  of 
very  limited  capacity,  it  marked  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of 
Pennsylvania  penology  by  making  possible  some  elementary 
differentiation  on  the  basis  of  age,  degree  of  criminality  and 
relative  susceptibility  to  reformation.  The  next  attempt  at  fur- 
ther differentiation  came  with  the  erection  of  the  State  Hospital 
for  the  Insane  at  Harrisburg  between  1841  and  1851,  chiefly 
as  a  result  of  the  agitation  initiated  by  Dorothea  L.  Dix.  This 
and  the  other  State  hospitals  for  the  insane,  subsequently 
erected,  provided  for  a  treatment  of  the  more  important  types 
of  mental  disorder,  though  no  adequate  provision  was  made  for 
removing  the  insane  from  the  prison.  Not  until  1905  was  an 
act  passed  providing  for  the  erection  of  a  State  hospital  for  the 
criminal  insane  at  Fairview  which  was  opened  in  1912. 

During  the  quarter  of  a  century  following  1850  there  was 
an  active  agitation  to  provide  a  means  of  differentiating  the 
treatment  of  criminals  on  the  basis  of  age,  sex  and  degree  of 
criminality.  The  first  important  achievement  in  this  direction 
was  the  further  development  of  reform  schools  for  juvenile 


8  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

delinquents  through  the  removal  and  enlargement  of  the  Phila- 
delphia House  of  Refuge  in  1850-54  and  the  erection  of  the 
Western  House  of  Refuge  at  Allegheny  during  the  same  period. 
Juvenile  delinquents,  if  petty  offenders,  could  thereafter  be  re- 
moved from  their  degrading  confinement  in  the  State  prison  or 
worse  county  jails  and  receive  the  properly  specialized  treat- 
ment which  their  circumstances  demanded.  No  provision  for 
the  differentiated  treatment  of  the  less  definite  and  confirmed 
types  of  adult  delinquents  was  made  until  the  opening  of  the 
reformatory  for  men  at  Huntingdon  in  1889  and  the  authori- 
zation of  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Women  at  Muncy  in 
1913.  The  provision  of  reformatories  and  juvenile  correctional 
institutions  marked  a  double  process  of  differentiation,  in  that 
these  institutions  not  only  called  for  a  diversity  of  treatment 
according  to  age,  sex  and  degree  of  criminality,  but  also  from 
the  fact  that  they  were  clearly  differentiated  from  the  State 
prisons  and  the  county  jails  in  making  reformation  rather  than 
punishment  or  detention  their  chief  aims. 

Along  with  this  development  of  a  properly  differentiated  sys- 
tem of  treating  the  delinquent  population,  has  gone  the  growth 
of  specialized  institutions  for  dealing  with  the  closely  related 
class  of  defectives,  which  was  once  treated  indiscriminately 
along  with  the  delinquent  classes  when  its  members  were  guilty 
of  criminal  action.  The  State  institution  for  feeble-minded  at 
Polk,  opened  in  1893,  and  at  Spring  City,  provided  by  an  act 
of  1903,  and  the  State  Village  for  Feeble-minded  Women  at 
Laurelton,  not  yet  available  for  use,  are  designed  to  furnish  sci- 
entific treatment  for  large  numbers  of  those  who  would  today 
be  confined  in  the  State  prisons  or  county  jails,  if  the  ideas 
and  institutions  of  1840  prevailed.  Even  an  institution  for 
inebriates  was  contemplated  in  an  act  of  1913. 

But  this  vital  and  all  important  process  of  the  differentiation, 
classification  and  specialized  treatment  of  the  delinquent  and  de- 
fective classes  has  now  proceeded  far  beyond  that  most  ele- 
mentary stage  of  furnishing  separate  institutions  for  dealing 


Report  of  Penal  Commission 

with  the  most  general  classes  of  delinquents  and  defectives.  It 
has  been  found  that  the  terms  defective,  insane  and  criminal 
have  only  a  legal  significance  and  are  practically  useless  when 
involving  the  problem  of  exact  scientific  analysis  and  treatment. 
Each  general  class  of  delinquent  boys,  of  defective  girls  or  of 
criminal  adults,  for  instance,  is  made  up  of  distinguishable  and 
distinct  types  which  demand  specialized  treatment  in  the  same 
way  that  it  is  required  for  one  general  class  as  distinguished 
from  another.  Though  it  is  as  yet  very  imperfectly  developed, 
the  present  tendency  is  for  each  institution  to  differentiate  into 
a  number  of  specialized  departments,  each  designed  to  provide 
the  proper  treatment  for  one  of  these  types. 

Finally,  within  the  last  decade  beginnings  have  been  made  in 
what  is  likely  to  be  an  important  future  development,  namely 
the  non-institutional  care  of  the  less  pronounced  and  confirmed 
types  of  delinquents,  particularly  of  delinquent  minors.  The 
developments  along  this  line  have,  up  to  the  present,  consisted 
chiefly  in  the  adoption  of  parole  systems  in  all  the  State  penal, 
reformatory  and  correctional  institutions  and  in  a  more  liberal 
use  of  the  suspended  sentence  and  probation.  The  recently  es- 
tablished Municipal  Probation  Court  of  Philadelphia  is  a  pioneer 
in  Pennsylvania  in  this  promising  new  development  in  the  pre- 
ventive treatment  of  the  less  confirmed  type  of  delinquents. 

Looking  at  the  whole  matter  as  it  stands  today,  it  cannot  be 
said  that  conditions  in  Pennsylvania  are  in  any  material  respect 
either  better  or  worse  than  in  other  progressive  States,  except 
in  the  one  matter  of  the  useful  employment  of  the  convict  pop- 
ulation. Here,  as  elsewhere,  some  lucky  chance  has  placed  a 
man  or  a  woman  of  exceptional  qualifications  at  the  head  of 
an  institution,  one  who  has  by  his  strong  personal  initiative 
made  the  best  of  a  bad  situation,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Eastern 
Penitentiary,  or  who  has,  with  something  akin  to  genius,  seized 
upon  a  new  opportunity,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Girls'  School  at 
Darlington  and  the  new  Penitentiary  foundation  at  Bellefonte. 
But  these  are  sporadic  and  exceptional  developments  and  have 


io  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

furnished  no  new  principle  of  a  revolutionary  character  to  mark 
the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  penal  administration. 

Meanwhile  the  hopeless  and  demoralizing  idleness  to  which 
most  of  the  inmates  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  and  of  most  of 
the  county  institutions  of  the  Commonwealth  are  doomed,  is  a 
spectacle  in  which  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  can  take  nothing 
but  shame.  But  even  if  this  is  remedied,  as  it  should  be  at  once 
by  drastic  legislative  action,  Pennsylvania  will  have  done  no 
more  than  reach  the  level  of  penological  theory  of  the  Quaker 
innovators  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  The 
step  is  an  imperative  one,  but  it  will  not  restore  to  the  Com- 
monwealth the  proud  position  of  leadership  which  once  was 
hers,  which  is  still,  by  virtue  of  past  achievements  and  by  com- 
mon fame,  attributed  to  her. 

While  we  have  thus  been  dreaming,  tardily  and  ineffectually 
putting  into  effect  the  aspirations  of  a  long-distant  past,  a  new 
penology  has  come  into  being,  based  not  on  humanitarian  senti- 
ment or  on  "the  common  sense  of  most,"  but  on  the  scientific 
study  of  the  delinquent  and  his  environment.  New  sciences  of 
psychology,  psychiatry  and  sociology  have  been  forged  to  meet 
the  conditions  of  the  new  day  and  these  have  furnished  us  with 
a  new  basis  for  penological  experimentation.  We  have  learned 
that  the  criminal  is  not  merely  a  person  who  has  in  the  exercise 
of  an  unfettered  will  chosen  the  evil  rather  than  the  good,  but 
a  person  of  complex  personality  shaped  by  heredity  and  environ- 
ment to  what  he  is,  none  the  less  a  menace  to  society  than  the 
older  conception  made  him,  not  the  less  requiring  restraint  and 
correction,  but  demanding  and  deserving  individual  treatment 
according  to  the  nature  which  has  been  developed  in  him.  We 
have  learned  from  recent  scientific  study  of  the  most  rigorous 
and  trustworthy  sort  that  from  50  to  60  per  cent,  of  the  in- 
mates of  our  correctional  institutions  are  abnormal — feeble- 
minded, insane,  psychopathic — to  the  point  of  irresponsibility, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  same  kind  of  people  that  fill  our 
hospitals  for  the  insane  and  institutions  for  the  feeble-minded. 
We  have  also  learned,  from  sociological  case  studies,  that  a  very 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  n 

large  proportion  of  those  that  the  psychiatrist  would  class  as 
normal  are  the  victims  of  neglected  childhood  and  of  the  de- 
praving influences  of  the  institutions  in  which  they  have  spent 
a  great  part  of  their  young  lives. 

It  seems  clear  that  this  new  knowledge  makes  for  a  new  clas- 
sification, based  not,  like  that  of  the  Elmira  system,  on  be- 
havior in  confinement,  nor,  like  that  of  the  current  penology,  on 
the  character  of  the  crime  committed,  but  on  the  exact  study 
of  the  individual  and  that  the  treatment  accorded  him  must  be 
adapted  to  the  results  of  such  study. 

Here,  then,  is  the  new  opportunity  for  a  further  advance  out 
of  this  slough  of  despond — an  opportunity  not  inferior  to  that 
which  this  Commonwealth  so  superbly  grasped  in  its  heroic 
youth — to  bring  its  penal  administration  into  conformity  with 
the  newer  conceptions  of  delinquency.  Tinkering  the  old  ma- 
chine is  not  enough.  It  must  be  remodeled  altogether.  Add- 
ing to  the  powers  of  a  board  of  inspectors  here,  curbing  them 
there,  setting  up  new  boards  and  commissions  to  direct  the 
doing  of  this,  to  restrain  the  doing  of  that — all  these  are  but 
a  part  of  the  old  game,  which  will  after  all  continue  to  be 
played  in  very  much  the  old  perfunctory  way.  What  is  de- 
manded is  x  genuine  reconstruction  of  the  penal  system  of  the 
Commonwealth,  one  which  shall,  with  as  little  disturbance  to 
the  existing  management  of  the  several  institutions  as  possible, 
put  at  their  service  all  the  resources  of  the  new  knowledge  of 
crime  and  its  treatment.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  report  to 
suggest  the  lines  of  this  future  development  of  our  penal  system. 

III. 
GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  PRESENT  PENAL  SYSTEM. 

As  the  foregoing  outline  indicates,  the  several  State  institu- 
tions of  a  penal,  correctional  and  reformatory  character,  with 
the  two  Glen  Mills  Schools  (which,  though  largely  under  pri- 
vate management,  are  essentially  public  institutions)  have  been 


12  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

developed  at  different  times,  under  the  influence  of  changing 
conceptions  of  social  responsibility  for  different  types  of  of- 
fenders. As  a  result  of  this  circumstance  each  is  separately 
managed  by  a  board  of  inspectors  or  managers,  which  exercises 
complete  control  over  the  policy  of  the  institution  to  which  its 
authority  extends.  This  Board  appoints  the  Warden  or  Super- 
intendent, fixes  his  or  her  compensation,  determines  the  indus- 
trial and  educational  policy  of  the  institution  and,  under  the 
authority  of  the  Legislature,  disburses  the  funds  appropriated 
for  its  maintenance.  The  disciplinary  policy  of  the  institution 
is  almost  invariably  entrusted  to  the  Warden  or  Superintendent 
and,  as  is  natural,  if  that  official  happens  to  be  a  person  of 
strong  individuality  and  initiative,  his  policy  in  practice,  if  not 
in  theory,  governs  the  entire  administration.  Nowhere  is  there 
a  centralized  authority  exercising  a  general  control  of  an  ef- 
fective influence.  The  only  approach  to  such  a  general  agency 
is  the  State  Board  of  Public  Charities,  which  may  investigate 
and  require  the  submission  of  an  annual  report,  and  the  Prison 
Labor  Commission,  which  exercises  a  general  supervision  over 
the  industries  of  the  two  penitentiaries  and  the  Huntingdon 
Reformatory,  but  which  has  no  effective  power  to  carry  its  plans 
into  execution.  There  is,  accordingly,  no  uniform  policy  even 
in  the  case  of  institutions  like  the  two  Glen  Mills  schools,  which 
have  a  similar  type  of  inmates  and  an  identical  aim,  nor  in  the 
case  of  all  the  institutions  under  consideration  in  matters  where 
their  problems  and  needs  are  the  same.  That  there  are  advan- 
tages in  this  policy  of  separate  control  cannot  be  denied.  It 
gives  to  an  energetic  and  progressive  superintendent  or  board 
of  managers  a  degree  of  initiative  in  reform  and  experimenta- 
tion, which,  under  a  highly  centralized  control  of  all  the  insti- 
tutions, it  would  be  difficult  to  secure.  On  the  other  hand  it 
may  have  the  effect  of  depriving  the  individual  institution,  be- 
cause of  its  poverty  or  because  of  the  reactionary  character  of 
its  administration,  of  the  benefits  of  an  advance  which  may 
have  been  made  elsewhere.  There  could  not  be  a  better  illus- 
tration of  the  unevenness  of  development  resulting  from  this 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  13 

lack  of  co-operation  in  the  Pennsylvania  prison   system  than 
the  fact  that  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  was  compelled  to  wait 
for  the  initiative  of  its  present  Warden  for  the  partial  adoption 
of  the  congregate  system,  which  had  for  forty  years  existed  in 
the  Western  Penitentiary,  and  which  had  everywhere  demon- 
strated its  superiority  over  the  system  of  solitary  confinement. 
Upon  the  whole,  however,  what  strikes  the  thoughtful  ob- 
server is  not  the  diversity  of  policy  and  management  among 
these  institutions,  even  where  they  have  avowedly  different  aims, 
but  their  conformity  to  a  common  type,  and  that  the  prison  type. 
With  only  two  exceptions — Sleighton  Farms  and  the  Training 
School  at  Morganza — the  persistent  shadow  of  the  Penitentiary 
rests  upon  them  all.     It  is  true  that  in  the  new  Central  Peni- 
tentiary on  its  broad  acreage  at  Bellefonte  and  in  the  Eastern 
Penitentiary,   so   far  as  the  physical  and  industrial  conditions 
render  possible,  the  shadow  has  been  lifted,  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  of  the  penal  system  of  the  State  as  a  whole,  that  it  is  still 
too  much  dominated  by  the  ancient  ideal  of  demonstrating  to 
the  inmates  that  "the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard."     Even 
in  institutions  of  a  purely  reformatory  character,  while  they 
leave  little  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  healthful  conditions  of 
living,  orderly  administration  and  educational  opportunities,  the 
reformation  of  the  wrong-doer  is  still  too  much  sought  through 
a  system  of  stern  repression,  of   "iron  discipline" — a   system 
which,  as  all  experience  shows,  defeats  its  end  by  crushing  out 
the  finer  elements  of  character  on  which  the  redemption  of  the 
individual  must  depend.     An  almost  invariable  incident  of  this 
type  of  disciplinary  control  is  the  persistence  of  the  policy  of 
securing  good  conduct  through  punishment — often  severe  pun- 
ishment for  trivial  offenses — rather  than  by  the  more  enlight- 
ened and  humane  method  of  holding  out  incentives  to   good 
behavior,  either  by  the  grant  of  special  privileges  or  by  putting 
on    the    inmates    themselves    the    responsibility    for    the    good 
behavior  of  all. 

Other  instances  of  the  persistence  of  the  traditional  attitude 
toward  the  offender  are  the  almost  complete  lack  throughout 


14  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

our  penal  system  of  a  scientific,  balanced  ration,  such  as  has  in 
the  experience  of  prison  administrators  in  other  States,  as 
notably  at  Sing  Sing  Prison  in  1916,  and  more  recently  in  our 
army  camps,  demonstrated  the  value  both  for  health  and  ef- 
ficiency and  from  the  point  of  view  of  economy  of  a  scientific 
management  of  the  problem  of  food  supply  for  large  masses  of 
men ;  the  general  indifference  to  outdoor  recreation  and  exercise, 
so  essential  to  the  health  and  morale  of  the  inmate  body;  the 
meagre  provision  for  any  education  worthy  of  the  name;  the 
all  but  complete  lack  of  comprehensive  and  well  rounded  systems 
of  vocational  or  industrial  training,  on  which  the  efficiency  of 
prison  labor  and  the  ability  of  the  inmates  to  "make  good"  in 
the  world  of  industry  after  their  release  so  largely  depends;  the 
demoralizing  idleness  which  is  still  after  three  decades  of  effort 
the  most  marked  characteristic  of  our  prison  system;  and, 
finally,  the  insufficient  care  for  the  physical  and  mental  health 
of  the  inmates  of  our  correctional  institutions,  which  still  for 
the  most  part  mingle  indiscriminately  together  the  tuberculous 
and  syphilitic  with  those  who  are  sound  in  body  and  the  insane, 
psychopathic  and  defective  with  those  who  are  sound  in  mind. 

Many  of  these  conditions  which  continue  to  put  the  brand 
of  the  prison  on  the  inmates  of  our  correctional  institutions  are 
doubtless  due  to  the  survival  of  the  Bastille  type  of  prison  archi- 
tecture, which  is  exemplified  in  the  Eastern  and  Western  Peni- 
tentiaries and  in  such  structures  as  Moyamensing  Prison  in 
Philadelphia,  the  Convict  Prison  at  Holmesburg,  the  Philadel- 
phia House  of  Correction  and  many  others.  It  is  scarcely  too 
much  to  say  that  no  human  being  is  vile  enough  to  deserve  con- 
finement in  such  a  place  or  dangerous  enough  to  need  it.  Even 
the  most  unbending  of  the  old  type  of  prison  official  will  con- 
cede that  80  per  cent,  of  the  inmates  neither  need  nor  deserve 
to  be  confined  behind  triple  bars  of  steel  or  in  cells  like  cata- 
combs or  within  walls  like  those  of  Egyptian  tombs.  Keepers 
and  inmates  alike  lose  half  their  humanity  by  confinement  in 
these  grim  and  forbidding  structures.  No  reforming  influence 


\eport  of  Penal  Commission 

however  humane  and  generous,  can  long  survive  in  their  atmos- 
phere. 

Public  opinion  is  at  last  moving  away  from  this  antiquated 
type  of  prison  architecture  to  the  newer  type  represented  in 
the  honor  prison  at  New  Hampton  Farms  in  New  York  and~ 
in  our  Commonwealth  in  the  cottage  colonies  at  Sleighton 
Farms,  Glen  Mills,  Morganza,  and  Muncy.  The  change  which 
comes  over  the  men  who  are  transferred  from  the  Western 
Penitentiary  to  the  new  prison  site  in  Centre  County  is  a  suffi- 
cient commentary  on  the  older  type  of  prison,  and  demon- 
strates beyond  peradventure  the  duty  of  affording  to  all  of  our 
convict  population  a  similar  life  of  freedom  and  opportunity. 
This  result,  so  desirable  from  every  point  of  view,  could  in 
large  measure  be  attained  in  a  short  time  by  equipping  the 
Eastern  Penitentiary  with  a  suitable  area  of  farm  land  in  the 
Eastern  Section  of  the  State  and  by  making  immediate  pro- 
vision for  the  institution  of  State  industrial  farms  for  the 
convicts  confined  in  the  county  prisons,  as  is  recommended 
els  where  in  this  report. 

IV. 
PRISON  LABOR. 

The  conditions  existing  in  the  penal  institutions  of  the  Com- 
monwealth with  respect  to  the  employment  of  the  inmates  in 
useful  industry  have  been  so  fully  set  forth  in  the  Emergency 
Report  submitted  by  the  Commission  to  the  Governor  in  Sep- 
tember last  (a  copy  of  which  is  annexed  to  this  report)  and  in 
the  comprehensive  study  of  the  problem  by  the  Penal  Com- 
mission of  1913-1915  (submitted  to  the  General  Assembly 
under  date  of  February  15,  1915)  that  it  is  not  deemed  neces- 
sary to  go  into  the  matter  at  length  in  this  place.  It  suffices 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  conditions  described  in 
those  reports  have  not  in  any  material  respect  been  improved. 
Of  approximately  10,000  inmates  in  the  penal  and  correctional 


1 6  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

institutions  of  the  State,  less  than  one-half  are  usefully  em- 
ployed, not  more  than  one-fourth  in  productive  labor.  The 
economic  waste  of  such  a  system  extended  over  a  century  is 
scarcely  less  appalling  than  its  inhumanity.  By  the  law  a  large 
part  of  this  interminable  procession  of  offending  and  suffering 
humanity  has  been  condemned  to  hard  labor.  In  actual  prac- 
tice nearly  all  of  it  has  been  doomed  to  wasteful  and  demoral- 
izing idleness. 

The  law  of  June  i,  1915,  "providing  a  system  of  employ- 
ment and  compensation  for  the  inmates  of  the  Eastern  Peni- 
tentiary, Western  Penitentiary  and  the  Pennsylvania  Industrial 
Reformatory  at  Huntingdon"  and  creating  a  Prison  Labor 
Commission  to  carry  its  provisions  into  effect,  has  proved 
almost  wholly  inoperative,  owing  primarily  to  the  failure  of 
the  Legislature  to  provide  for  the  compulsory  purchase  of 
prison-made  goods  by  the  Commonwealth  or  the  political 
divisions  thereof  or  by  public  institutions.  As  a  consequence, 
out  of  a  total  population  of  3200  in  the  three  institutions  to 
which  the  authority  of  the  Commission  extends,  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1918  only  169  were  employed  under  the  direction  of 
the  Commission.  These  were  distributed  as  follows : — 

Eastern    Penitentiary,    population I»37I 

Caning  chairs 16 

Cigarmaking 1 1 

Shoemaking 42 

Knitting    hosiery 38 

107 

Absolutely    idle 839 

Western  Penitentiary,  population 720 

Broommaking 10 

Brushrnaking 2 

Weaving 18 

Absolutely    idle 393 


\eport  of  Penal  Commission  17 

Huntingdon   Reformatory,    population.  . .         579 
Auto-tagmajking 32 

Whether  considered  as  a  relief  from  the  crushing  burden  of 
expense  that  our  penal  establishments  entail,  or  as  a  remedy  for 
the  physical  and  moral  degeneration  resulting  from  enforced 
idleness,  or  as  a  means  to  equip  the  inmates  for  lives  of  in- 
dustry and  usefulness  after  their  release,  a  system  of  prison 
labor  which  produces  the  results  set  forth  in  these  figures 
stands  self  condemned. 

To  make  the  plan  embodied  in  the  law  of  1915  effective,  it 
should  further  provide: 

(1)  That  municipalities  as  well  as  the  Commonwealth  and 
the  political  divisions  thereof  and  all  public  institutions   shall 
be  required,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  to  supply  their  needs 
from  the  labor  of  the  penal  and  correctional  institutions; 

(2)  That  the  authority  of  the  Commission  or  of  any  body 
in  which  its  powers  may  be  vested  shall  extend  to  the  reform- 
atory  institutions   at   Darlington,    Glen    Mills,    Morganza    and 
Muncy  and  to  all  State,  county  and  municipal  institutions  of  a 
penal  or  correctional  character; 

(3)  That  the  power  of  such  Commission  or  body  to  regu- 
late prison  industry  be  extended  to  all  forms  of  labor  activity 
of  the  inmates  of  such  institutions,   including  fanning,   road- 
making,  land  reclamation,  forestry,  etc. ; 

(4)  That  such  Commission  or  body  be  empowered  to  deter- 
mine the  compensation  of  prisoners   for  industrial  and  other 
work  performed   by  them  and  the  method   of  applying  such 
compensation  to  the  use  of  such  prisoners  or  their  dependents; 

(5)  That  the  strict  "State  use"  plan  be  modified  by  permit- 
ting the  sale  in  the  open  market,  at  not  less  than  the  market 
price,  of  any  surplus  product  resulting  from  the  labor  of  the 


1 8  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

inmates  over  and  above  the  product  disposed  of  as  provided 
in  the  act. 

V. 
THE  COUNTY  PRISONS. 

In  Pennsylvania,  as  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  other  States  of 
the  Union,  the  county  jail  is  the  despair  of  those  who  look  for 
a  better  day  in  the  treatment  of  the  wrong-doer.  The  admira- 
tion which  our  experiments  in  the  reformatory  treatment  of 
the  young  have  excited  in  eminent  foreign  penologists  has 
turned  to  loathing  when  their  attention  was  directed  to  the 
county  jails.  Sir  Evelyn  Ruggles-Brise,  the  distinguished 
head  of  the  English  prison  system,  in  an  article  published  a 
few  months  after  his  visit  to  this  country  in  1910,  described 
them  in  the  following  terms : 

"In  these  gaols  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  many 
of  the  features  linger  which  called  forth  the  wrath  and 
indignation  of  the  great  Howard  at  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  Promiscuity,  unsanitary  conditions,  absence 
of  supervision,  idleness  and  corruption — these  remain  the 
features  in  many  places.  Even  the  'fee'  system  is  still  in 
vogue.  The  gaolers  are  still  paid  by  fees  for  the  support 
of  prisoners,  and  commitments  to  gaol  are  common  when 
some  other  disposition  of  the  case  would  have  been  im- 
posed had  not  the  commitment  yielded  a  fee  to  the  sheriff, 
who  is  usually  in  charge  of  the  gaol.  In  many  gaols  there 
are  not  facilities  for  medical  examination  on  reception 
for  ventilation,  for  exercise,  or  for  bathing.  *  *  * 
The  foreign  delegates  were  amazed  at  this  startling  incon- 
sistency between  the  management  of  the  common  gaols  and 
that  of  the  State  prisons  and  State  reformatories.  The 
evils  to  which  I  refer  are  well  known  and  deplored  by  that 
body  of  earnest  and  devoted  men  and  women  in  all  sections 
of  American  society  with  whose  lofty  ideals  on  the  subject 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  19 

of  prison  reform  and  generous  aspirations  for  the  humane 
treatment  of  the  prisoner,  the  Washington  Congress  made 
us  every  day  familiar,  but  they  seem  helpless  and  almost 
hopeless.  *  *  *  I  was  appealed  to  by  leading  men -in- 
more  than  one  State,  as  British  representative,  to  publicly 
condemn  the  system,  and  this  I  did,  at  a  risk  of  giving  con- 
siderable offense.  Until  the  abuses  of  the  gaol  system  are 
removed,  it  is  impossible  for  America  to  have  assigned  to 
her  by  general  consent  a  place  in  the  vanguard  of  progress 
in  the  domain  of  'la  science  penitentiaire!  " 

Your  Commission  desires  to  submit  as  its  considered  judg- 
ment that  the  foregoing  statement  does  no  injustice  to  many  of 
the  county  prisons  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  that  the  Legis- 
lature can  do  no  greater  service,  nor  one  that  will  reflect  more 
credit  on  the  Commonwealth,  than  to  sweep  away  the  entire 
county  jail  system  without  delay. 

Attention  has  been  called  elsewhere  in  this  report  to  the  de- 
plorable conditions  of  idleness  which  prevail  in  the  prisons  of 
our  Commonwealth.  These  conditions  are  at  their  worst  in 
the  county  institutions.  In  the  last  six  years  the  average  daily 
number  of  prisoners  in  the  county  jails  of  the  Commonwealth 
has  been  about  6500.  Only  about  one-fourth  of  these  have 
some  form  of  employment  other  than  domestic  service.  But 
when  all  of  the  returns  are  in  with  regard  to  the  work  accom- 
plished, the  number  of  days  spent  in  complete  idleness  in  the 
course  of  a  year  will  average  more  than  one  million.  If  we 
regard  the  labor  of  the  prisoners  as  worth  fifty  cents  a  day,  the 
amount  of  waste  thus  exceeds  $500,000  annually. 

In  order  to  obviate  this  condition  of  affairs,  the  General  As- 
sembly in  1917  passed  an  Act  (No.  337,  P.  L.  1917),  vesting  in 
the  officers  in  charge  of  county  prisons  the  privilege  of  allowing 
the  prisoners  to  work  on  county  and  poorhouse  farms.  Al- 
though only  twenty-seven  counties  have  taken  advantage  of  this 
Act,  its  results  have  been  very  beneficial.  The  workers  have 


2O  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

improved  in  health,  strength  and  morale,  and  the  produce  of 
their  labor  has  been  of  material  help  in  the  up-keep  of  the  in- 
stitutions. Unfortunately,  the  operation  of  this  Act  terminates 
with  the  close  of  the  war. 

A  more  comprehensive  Act  was  proposed  by  the  Penal  Com- 
mission of  1913-1915,  which  recommended  the  establishment  of 
six  industrial  farms  to  be  controlled  by  the  State,  to  which  all 
persons  convicted  of  crime  or  misdemeanor,  and  now  committed 
to  county  institutions,  should  hereafter  be  sent.  This  admirable 
measure  was,  however,  amended  in  such  a  day  as  to  leave  the 
initiative  in  the  creation  of  such  farms  and  the  control  thereof 
to  the  County  Commissioners  of  the  nine  groups  of  counties 
into  which  the  State  was  divided  for  the  purpose  (No.  399, 
P.  L.  1917).  This  legislation  has  fallen  flat,  not  one  of  the  in- 
dustrial districts  having  carried  the  scheme  into  effect. 

Your  Commission  submits  that  there  is  no  remedy  for  the 
condition  of  affairs  above  described  other  than  the  complete  as- 
sumption by  the  State  of  the  custody  and  care  of  the  offenders, 
whether  felons  or  misdemeanants,  who  are  now  committed  to 
the  county  institutions. 

Farming  for  prisoners,  as  our  investigations  in  other  States 
have  clearly  shown,  has  passed  beyond  the  experimental  stage. 
The  State  of  Massachusetts,  some  years  ago,  established  a  penal 
farm  for  misdemeanants  at  Bridgewater.  A  large  tract  of 
ground  was  purchased,  consisting  largely  of  swamp  and  aban- 
doned land,  which,  by  the  use  of  fertilizers  and  by  drainage,  has 
been  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  cultivation]  This  enterprise 
has  been  so  signally  successful  that  it  is  now  proposed  to  move 
the  State  Prison  at  Charlestown  to  this  same  farm  at  Bridge- 
water. 

Perhaps  the  most  successful  experiment  of  the  kind  has  been 
made  in  Indiana,  where  the  State  has  taken  over  the  custody  of 
misdemeanants  on  the  plan  which  was  recommended  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Penal  Commission  of  1913-1915,  a  recommenda- 
tion which  is  renewed  in  this  report.  The  Superintendent  of  the 
Indiana  State  Farm  makes  the  following  report:— 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  21 

'The  farm  had  an  average  daily  population,  in  1918,  of 
four  hundred  and  sixty-two  prisoners.  All  institution 
buildings  and  outbuildings,  the  sewer  system,  power  plant,  ^ 
heating  and  water  systems,  land  reclaiming,  farming  and 
gardening,  has  been  done  with  the  labor  of  misdemeanants 
at  a  surprisingly  low  cost  for  guards.  The  Indiana  State 
Farm  is  allowed  fifty-five  cents  per  man  per  day  for  its 
entire  maintenance,  while  the  same  man  in  jail,  at  the 
present  time,  will  cost  more  than  one  dollar  per  day  for 
the  gross  maintenance.  The  fifty-five  cents  per  man  per 
day  pays  the  entire  pay  roll,  subsistence,  fuel,  light,  heat, 
medical  services,  clothing,  transportation,  field  and  garden 
seeds,  fertilizers,  common  labor,  tools  and  all  other  items 
of  maintenance.  *  *  * 

"The  effect  that  the  Indiana  State  Farm  has  had  on  the  j. 
jail  system  of  the  State  is  indicated  by  the  following  fig- 
ures: In  the  year  1914  there  were  18,130  commitments 
to  county  jails;  in  1915,  14,644,  and  in  1916,  9,896.  The 
doors  of  the  State  Farm  were  opened  April  12,  1915,  and 
the  full  effect  of  the  State  Farm  was  not  noticeable  until 
the  close  of  the  year  1916.  The  moral  effect  of  the  insti- 
tution oir  the  misdemeanant  class  was  one  very  important 
factor  in  reducing  the  jail  commitments." 

During  the  year  ending  September  30,  1918,  this  penal  farm 
was  two-thirds  self-supporting,  and  it  is  confidently  expected 
that  the  institution  will  soon  be  entirely  self-supporting. 

New  York  City  has  established  a  reformatory  farm  of  630 
acres  at  New  Hampton,  N.  Y.,  to  which  boys  and  men  from 
sixteen  to  thirty  years  of  age  are  committed.  They  have  no 
bars,  no  wall,  on  restraining  thing,  except  supervision.  They 
have  no  cell  for  punishment.  From  the  farm  they  secure  most 
of  their  provisions.  In  handling  2000  prisoners,  they  have  lost 
only  five.  The  health  of  the  inmates  is  greatly  improved.  It 
is  estimated  that  45  per  cent,  of  the  prisoners  there  were  ad- 


22  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

dieted  to  the  drug  habit.  Most  of  them  were  sent  away  re- 
stored. What  they  needed  was  to  be  built  up  by  fresh  air,  good 
food  and  exercise,  and  to  be  employed  in  wholesome  work.  In 
fact,  they  have  been  taught  the  dignity  of  labor — a  thing  to 
which  most  of  them  had  hitherto  been  strangers. 

But  we  need  not  go  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  State  to 
prove  the  benefit  and  success  of  farming  for  misdemeanants. 
The  administration  of  the  Allegheny  County  Workhouse  illus- 
trates the  economy  of  providing  employment  for  prisoners  on 
an  industrial  farm.  Here  the  average  daily  number  of  in- 
mates in  1918  was  722.  The  daily  average  cost  of  each  inmate 
was  8 1  cents,  but  after  deducting  the  earnings  of  the  inmates, 
it  was  only  32  cents.  This  means  that  the  inmates  earned  49 
cents  a  day  toward  their  own  maintenance.  Their  bookkeeping 
indicates  merely  the  cost  of  raising  the  crops.  If  the  institution 
had  charged  itself  with  the  produce  used  by  it  at  the  prevailing 
market  price,  the  net  cost  would  have  been  much  less.  The 
farm  has  670  acres,  of  which  560  acres  are  farmed  and  used 
as  pasture.  The  inmates  are  continually  coming  and  going. 
Many  of  them  are  committed  for  ten  days  or  less,  and  a  large 
part  are  sentenced  for  30  days,  while  comparatively  few  of  them 
remain  longer  than  one  year.  This  shows  that  a  great  deal  of 
efficient  work  can  be  secured,  even  from  those  who  serve  for 
short  terms. 

A  similarly  striking  result  has  been  attained  in  Delaware 
County  under  the  law  of  1911,  empowering  the  judges  of  the 
Courts  of  Common  Pleas  to  release  on  parole  convicts  confined 
in  county  jails  or  workhouses  under  the  supervision  of  desig- 
nated probation  officers.  Acting  under  this  law,  the  President 
Judge  of  that  county  has  during  the  year  1918  paroled  a  num- 
ber of  inmates  of  the  county  jail  to  work  on  farm  lands  rented 
for  the  purpose  with  the  remarkable  result  that  only  two  of 
the  men  so  paroled  made  their  escape  (both  being  afterwards 
retaken)  and  that  nearly  $14,000  worth  of  crops  were  sold  for 
cash  in  addition  to  the  vegetables  used  and  stored  in  the  prison. 
The  net  profit  is  estimated  at  $7000. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  23 

Logically,  we  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  State  ought 
to  assume  the  care  of  all  offenders.  The  laws  are  made  by  the 
State,  and  the  indictments  charge  the  accused  with  offenses 
against  the  "peace  and  dignity  of  the  Commonwealth,"  not, 
against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  county,  municipality  or  bor- 
ough. The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  Commonwealth 
should  assume  the  responsibility  for  the  protection  of  the  com- 
munity from  both  felons  and  misdemeanants.  And  since  such 
an  arrangement  as  has  been  proposed  will  result  in  reduced  tax- 
ation, uniformity  of  management  and  in  larger  opportunities 
for  the  education  and  reformation  of  the  delinquent,  we  feel 
that  the  establishment  of  State  industrial  farms  to  receive  the 
delinquents  now  committed  to  the  county  prisons  should  receive 
your  favorable  consideration. 

The  bill  submitted  to  carry  this  recommendation  into  effect 
omits  the  counties  of  Philadelphia  and  Allegheny  from  its  opera- 
tion. Allegheny  County  already  has  a  prison  farm  which  in 
many  ways  may  be  considered  a  model  of  its  kind.  Philadel- 
phia has  a  farm  in  connection  with  the  House  of  Correction 
which  furnishes  employment  to  many  prisoners  and  supplies 
much  produce  for  the  institution.  We  recommend  that  at  some 
early  date  the  City  of  Philadelphia  may,  by  the  purchase  of 
more  land,  extend  the  advantages  of  a  penal  farm  to  its  con- 
vict prison  and  in  some  way  combine  under  one  management  the 
entire  penal  system  of  the  municipality. 

The  fee  system,  whereby  the  sheriff  or  warden  receives  a 
stipulated  such  each  day  for  the  board  of  prisoners,  is  so  liable 
to  abuse  that  we  submit  a  proposition  to  abolish  the  practice  in 
all  our  prisons.  Whenever  the  profits  from  boarding  the  pris- 
oners is  a  part  of  the  remuneration  of  the  officer  in  charge,  the 
tendency  is  doubtless  to  exploit  the  prisoners,  or  to  reduce  to  a 
minimum  the  supply  of  food,  in  order  to  derive  the  greater 
profit. 

In  1915  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  cost  of  boarding  the 
prisoners  in  the  largest  25  counties  of  the  Commonwealth  indi- 


24  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

cated  that  the  average  daily  cost  of  food  per  prisoner  in  the 
15  prisons  where  the  food  was  purchased  on  the  contract  sys- 
tem was  12  cents,  and  in  the  10  counties  where  the  fee  system 
was  in  vogue  33.7  cents,  the  difference  in  favor  of  the  contract 
system  being  21.7  cents  per  day  for  each  prisoner. 

We  estimate  that  in  these  10  counties  alone  the  saving  to  the 
taxpayers  by  the  adoption  of  the  contract  system  will  be  at  least 
$50,000  annually.  The  economy  of  the  proposition  is  evident, 
making  due  allowance  for  providing  in  some  counties  additional 
compensation  for  the  official  in  charge  of  the  prison.  In  all 
cases  where  a  change  has  been  made  from  the  fee  system  to 
the  contract  system,  the  food  has  improved  in  character,  thus 
tendering  to  the  betterment  of  the  health  and  morale  of  the  in- 
mates. 

Moved  by  these  considerations,  the  General  Assembly  in  1909 
provided  that  in  all  counties  having  a  population  of  150,000  or 
more,  the  food  for  the  prisoners  must  be  purchased  by  con- 
tract. We  are  now  proposing  to  extend  this  principle  to  all  the 
counties  of  the  Commonwealth,  with  the  understanding  that  no 
such  change  is  to  take  place  during  the  incumbency  of  the  of- 
ficials who  are  at  the  present  time  in  charge  of  the  prisons. 

VI. 

PROBATION  AND  PAROLE. 

(a)  Under  the  law  of  May  10,  1909,  the  several  courts  of 
criminal  jurisdiction  are  invested  with  the  power  of  suspending 
sentence  on  certain  classes  of  convicted  offenders  and  of  placing 
such  offenders  on  probation  instead  of  committing  them  for 
definite  or  indeterminate  periods  of  imprisonment.  Probation 
officers,  charged  with  the  duty  of  supervising  the  behavior  of 
such  probationers,  are  appointed  by  the  judges  to  serve  in  their 
respective  counties.  In  this  Commonwealth,  as  in  many  others, 
experience  has  demonstrated  that  there  is  little  uniformity  in 
the  practice  of  the  courts  in  suspending  sentence  or  of  the  pro- 
bation officers  in  exercising  their  powers. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  25 

Conceived  as  a  mere  incident  of  the  sentencing  power,  to  be 
exercised  only  in  exceptional  cases,  the  suspended  sentence  and 
probation  are  beginning  to  disclose  themselves  as  a  momentous, 
not  to  say  revolutionary  step  in  the  progress  of  penology,  not 
less  important  in  its  ultimate  consequences  than  the  substitution 
a  century  ago  of  imprisonment  for  the  death  penalty  and  other 
forms  of  physical  punishment.  Like  the  older  forms  of  pun- 
ishment which  it  superseded,  imprisonment  too  has  proved  a 
failure,  so  far  at  least,  as  the  newer  aim  of  punishment,  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  wrong-doer  is  concerned.  And  we  are  coming 
to  see  that  the  protection  which  society  enjoys  through  the  im- 
prisonment for  a  few  months  or  years  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
criminal  class  is  dearly  purchased  by  a  system  which  returns 
the  offender  to  society  less  fitted  than  before  to  cope  with  the 
conditions  of  a  life  of  freedom.  More  and  more,  as  we  develop 
a  probation  service  worthy  of  the  name,  will  the  courts  be  re- 
luctant to  commit  men,  women  and  children  to  the  demoralizing 
associations  and  discipline  of  institutional  life  and  will  give 
them  their  chance  to  redeem  themselves  under  competent  guid- 
ance and  supervision  among  the  associations  and  activities  of 
everyday  life. 

Even  under -existing  conditions  it  is  safe  to  say  that  far  too 
many  adult  and  youthful  offenders  convicted  of  criminal  of- 
fenses are  committed  to  prison  and  far  too  many  delinquent 
children  to  reformatories  and  other  correctional  institutions. 
Your  Commission  believes  that  the  suspended  sentence  should 
be  more  liberally  employed  by  the  courts  of  the  Commonwealth 
under  strict  conditions  requiring  a  life  of  useful  industry  under 
careful  supervision;  that  children  under  12  years  of  age  should 
never  be  committed  to  penal  or  correctional  institutions  but 
rather,  where  institutional  care  is  deemed  necessary,  to  parental 
schools  such  as  have  been  established  in  other  States  as  a  part 
of  the  regular  educational  system;  and  that  children  of  larger 
growth,  say  from  12  to  16,  should,  wherever  possible,  be  placed 
on  probation  or  put  under  private  guardianship. 


26  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

Those  considerations  have  led  the  Commission  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  whole  subject  of  the  suspended  sentence  and  pro- 
bation in  this  Commonwealth  should  be  thoroughly  studied  in 
order  that  the  principles  that  should  govern  it  may  be  carefully 
defined  and  its  procedure  worked  out,  supervised  and  put  on  a 
uniform  basis.  New  York  and  other  States  have  for  this  pur- 
pose created  a  permanent  probation  board  or  commission  and 
the  success  which  has  attended  their  labors  suggests  the  institu- 
tion of  a  similar  body  in  this  Commonwealth. 

(b)  The  indeterminate  sentence,  which  made  its  appearance 
in  this  Commonwealth  in  the  law  of  May  10,  1909,  has  passed 
through  several  phases  to  a  state  in  which  its  purpose  is  almost 
completely  defeated.  In  its  original  form  it  provided  that  the 
maximum  term  to  be  imposed  upon  a  convict  who  should  be 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  either  the  Eastern  or  the  Western 
Penitentiaries  should  not  exceed  the  maximum  time  prescribd 
by  law  and  that  the  minimum  term  when  not  fixed  by  law, 
should  not  exceed  one-fourth  of  the  maximum  time.  This  law 
was  amended  by  an  Act  approved  June  19,  1911,  striking  out 
the  restriction  as  to  the  minimum  sentence,  thus  leaving  to  the 
courts  complete  discretion  to  fix  the  minimum  to  be  served 
at  any  period  short  of  the  maximum.  Many  of  the  courts  have 
in  frequent  instances  virtually  nullified  the  indeterminate  sen- 
tence principle  by  imposing  minimum  sentences  so  excessive  as 
to  bring  the  judicial  office  into  disrepute.  Sentences  of  from 
1 8  years  to  20  and  from  19  years  to  20  have  been  common,  and 
there  have  been  cases  so  grotesque  as  sentences  of  19  years  n 
months,  or  of  19  years,  n  months  and  29  days  to  20  years,  of 
23  years  and  3  months  to  25  years  and  of  27  to  28  years. 
These  are  only  the  more  extreme  illustrations  of  a  practice 
which  has  been  common  enough  to  justify  a  demand  for  a  law 
which  will  result  in  greater  uniformity  in  the  matter  of  im- 
posing sentences  for  crime. 

At  its  best  the  maximum-minimum  form  of  the  indeterminate 
sentence  is  an  unsatisfactory  compromise  between  the  ideal  aim 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  27 

of  penologists  and  the  traditional  attitude  of  the  courts,  which 
cling  tenaciously  to  their  ancient  prerogative  of  "making  the 
punishment  fit  the  crime."  That  the  power  of  determining  the 
period  of  imprisonment  requisite  to  meet  the  demands  of  jus- 
tice and  the  interests  of  society  may  safely  be  confided  to  other 
than  judicial  hands  has  been  conceded  in  the  case  of  all  offen- 
ders entitled  to  commitment  to  reformatories,  who  are  sentenced 
to  an  indeterminate  term  limited  only  by  the  maximum  fixed  by 
law,  or,  in  the  case  of  minors,  to  the  attainment  of  their  major- 
ity, and  who  may  be  released  on  parole  in  the  discretion 
of  the  boards  of  managers  of  the  institutions  to  which  they 
are  committed.  It  is  only  in  the  case  of  hardened  offenders  or 
of  those  guilty  of  certain  major  offenses  that  a  minimum  sen- 
tence is  imposed. 

For  more  than  a  generation  prison  reformers  have  urged  the  ] 
extension  of  the  pure  indeterminate  sentence  to  this  class  of  of- 
fenders also.  Their  logic  is  sound;  it  is  the  facts  that  are 
against  them.  The  argument  runs  like  this:  The  offender 
should  be  kept  in  confinement  only  until  he  is  fitted  by  his 
prison  experience  to  lead  an  honest  and  useful  life;  when  this 
end  is  attained  he  should  be  released.  The  answer  is  that  the 
prison  doesn't  in  fact  reform  the  wrong-doer;  that  good  behav- 
ior under  the  conditions  of  prison  life  is  no  assurance  of  the  in- 
tention or  capacity  of  the  prisoner  to  lead  an  honest  and  useful 
life  after  his  release,  and  that  the  inspectors  or  other  paroling 
authority  have  no  other  guide  to  go  by  in  determining  the  in- 
mate's fitness  for  a  life  of  freedom  than  his  prison  record.  If 
the  reformer  makes  the  obvious  retort — "then  reform  your 
prison  so  that  it  shall  reform  its  inmates,  and  reform  your  pa- 
roling authority  so  that  it  shall  make  its  determination  on  all 
the  facts  of  the  inmate's  personal  history  including  a  study  of 
his  mental  conditions,  his  heredity  and  the  social  influences  that 
have  shaped  his  character,"  he  is  admitting  that  we  are  not  yet 
ready  for  the  complete  acceptance  of  the  indeterminate  sentence 
in  all  classes  of  cases. 


28  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

But  there  is  a  middle  ground  between  the  position  of  the  ex- 
treme reformer  and  that  which  has  been  assumed  by  the  courts 
of  this  Commonwealth.  If  there  is  to  be  anything  short  of 
a  fixed  sentence,  declared  by  law,  it  should  be  a  reasonable 
minimum  which  should  also  be  declared  by  law.  The  policy  of 
the  indeterminate  sentence  is  that  the  delinquent  shall  be  super- 
vised and  guided  and  his  capacity  to  lead  an  honest  and  useful 
life  tested  by  actual  experience  under  normal  conditions  of 
living  for  a  period  of  years  long  enough  to  try  out  his  capacity 
to  readjust  himself  to  a  life  of  freedom  in  society.  For  this 
reason  an  adequate  interval  between  the  expiration  of  his  mini- 
mum sentence,  when  he  becomes  eligible  to  parole,  and  the  ex- 
piration of  his  maximum  sentence,  when  he  becomes  free  from 
judicial  control,  should  be  guaranteed  by  law. 

There  is  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  best  form  of 
paroling  authority.  Generally,  as  in  this  Commonwealth,  this 
power  is  lodged  in  the  inspectors  or  managers  of  the  several 
institutions  or,  in  the  case  of  commitments  to  county  prisons, 
in  the  courts  of  criminal  jurisdiction.  In  some  States,  as  in 
New  York,  a  distinct  Board  of  Parole  is  constituted  which 
visits  the  convict  prisons  at  intervals  and  hears  and  determines 
all  applications  for  parole  that  may  be  awaiting  determination. 
Neither  system  has  worked  with  complete  satisfaction.  Under 
both  the  grant  of  parole  is  largely  a  perfunctory  matter,  the 
inmates  who  have  served  their  minimum  sentences  being  gen- 
erally admitted  to  parole  at  once,  except  in  those  cases,  com- 
paratively rare  in  number,  where  the  applicant  has  been  penal- 
ized for  misconduct  while  in  confinement.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  that  the  first  step  toward  a  reform  of  the  paroling 
system  is  not  to  set  up  a  new  paroling  authority  but  to  devise 
some  more  effective  machinery  to  put  before  the  existing  au- 
thorities all  the  essential  facts  as  to  the  applicant's  mental,  moral 
and  physical  capacity  to  conduct  himself  as  a  self-respecting, 
useful  member  of  the  community.  A  second,  but  not  less  neces- 
sary step,  is  such  a  change  in  the  spirit  and  method  of  prison 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  29 

discipline  as  will  develop  in  the  inmates  by  actual  practice  the 
qualities  of  self-respect  and  self-reliance,  the  sense  of  honor 
and  of  responsibility  and  the  habit  of  co-operative  action  so 
essential  to  fit  them  for  a  life  of  freedom  and  responsibility, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  equip  them  with  the  habits  of  industry 
and  the  vocational  skill  which  will  enable  them  to  make  good 
in  the  life  that  awaits  them  beyond  the  prison-wall. 

VII. 
GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS. 

In  the  foregoing  analysis  of  the  penal  system  of  this  Com- 
monwealth, the  Commission  has  endeavored  not  only  to  present 
a  picture  of  the  existing  conditions  in  the  light  of  modern  con- 
ceptions of  penology  but  to  point  out,  also,  the  lines  of  a  sound 
and  progressive  development  of  the  system.  Most  of  the  sug- 
gestions thus  made  have  already  been  embodied  in  the  penal 
systems  of  other  States  and  of  enlightened  communities  beyond 
the  seas.  Especially  is  this  the  case  in  such  matters  as  the  gen- 
eral employment  of  the  prison  population  in  useful  and  produc- 
tive labor  and  in  the  substitution  of  farm  and  cottage  colonies 
for  the  old  type  of  prison.  In  a  few  of  the  larger  cities  and 
in  some  institutions  promising  beginnings  have  been  made  in 
the  mental  examination  of  delinquents  with  a  view  to  the  pro- 
vision of  specialized  treatment  for  those  found  to  be  mentally 
afflicted  or  seriously  defective.  But  in  no  State  or  country, 
as  yet,  have  all  these  improvements  been  welded  into  a  com- 
prehensive system  which  makes  them  available  for  the  entire 
delinquent  population.  The  inertia  or  indifference  which  leave 
the  extension  of  these  benefits  to  chance  or  to  the  slow  con- 
tagion of  example  is  unworthy  of  a  great  and  progressive 
Commonwealth  which  has  in  the  past  more  than  once  demon- 
started  its  capacity  for  leadership  in  penal  reform. 

It  is  evident  that  the  general  adoption  in  this  State  of  these 
modern  improvements  in  the  treatment  of  the  criminal  problem 


30  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

can  be  effected  only  through  the  institution  of  a  central  agency 
adapted  to  secure  a  co-ordination  of  effort  and  a  uniformity 
of  development  which  under  the  present  system  of  separate 
control  has  been  demonstrated  to  be  impossible.  It  seems 
equally  evident,  however,  that  the  system  of  separate  manage- 
ment of  the  several  institutions  with  their  diverse  aims  and 
problems  possesses  advantages  which  we  would  not  willingly 
sacrifice  to  an  ideal  unity.  For  this  reason  the  Commission 
has  not  deemed  it  wise  to  recommend  the  example  of  other 
States  which  have  committed  the  management  of  all  their 
correctional  establishments  to  a  central  board  of  control. 
Moreover,  with  such  a  body  as  the  Board  of  Public  Charities 
already  vested  with  a  certain  authority  over  the  penal  institu- 
tions of  the  State,  it  has  not  been  deemed  desirable  to  recom- 
mend the  creation  of  a  new  and  independent  body  to  exercise 
a  new  jurisdiction  over  such  institutions.  It  seems  better  to 
utilize  the  authority  which  already  exists,  to  enlarge  its  range 
of  functions  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  proposed  development 
and  to  commit  the  exercise  of  these  functions  to  a  standing 
committee  analogous  to  the  existing  Committee  on  Lunacy. 
Through  such  a  committee  of  the  Board  of  Public  Charities 
your  Commission  believes  that  the  desired  co-ordination  and 
future  development  of  the  penal  system  of  the  Commonwealth 
can  best  be  secured. 

VIII. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Upon  the  foregoing  facts  and  conclusions  the  Commission 
submits  the  following  recommendations,  which  are  herewith 
submitted  for  such  action  as  the  General  Assembly  may  deem 
proper : — 

First. — The  Commission  recommends  that  the  General  As- 
sembly provide  for  the  enlargement  of  the  Board  of  Public 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  31 

Charities  by  the  addition  of  two  members  thereto,  at  least  one 
of  whom  shall  be  a  woman,  and  by  the  institution  of  a  stand- 
ing committee  of  five  members  of  such  Board,  at  least  one  of 
whom  shall  be  a  woman,  such  committee,  which  shall  be 
chosen  annually  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  Board,  to  be  known 
as  the  "Committee  on  Delinquency"  and  to  be  vested  with  the 
following  powers : — 

(a)  To  inspect  and  investigate  the  condition  and  manage- 
ment   of    all    penal,  correctional  and  reformatory  institutions 
within    the    Commonwealth    and    inquire    into    all    complaints 
against   the   same   and   report   thereon,   with   recommendations 
of  appropriate  action,   to  the  Board  of   Public   Charities,   the 
Governor,  the  General  Assembly,  or  the  Courts,  as  the  circum-' 
stances  may  require; 

(b)  To  institute,  maintain  and  supervise  a  medical  service 
adapted  to  the  examination  of  the  inmates  of  such  institutions 
and  the  proper  professional  treatment  of  all  such  as  are  men- 
tally or  physically  afflicted  or  deficient; 

(c)  To  make  recommendations  to  the  governing  authorities 
of   all  such  institutions   for  the  improvement  of  the  sanitary 
and  hygienic  conditions,  the  medical  and  hospital  equipment, 
and  the  medical  service  thereof; 

(d)  To  transfer  inmates  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion to  other  institutions  owned,  managed  or  controlled  by  the 
Commonwealth    or    any    political    subdivision    thereof,    or,    if 
suitable  arrangements  can  be  made,  to  other  institutions,  where 
such  inmates  may  receive  treatment  more  suitable  to  their  men- 
tal and  physical  condition; 

(e)  To    institute,    maintain    and    supervise    in    institutions 
within  its  jurisdiction  a  system  of  correctional  and   reforma- 
tory education; 

(/)  To  institute,  maintain  and  supervise  a  system  for  the 
employment  of  the  inmates  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion; 


32  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

(g)  To  prepare  and  submit  to  the  Board  of  Public  Chari- 
ties not  later  than  the  first  day  of  December  of  each  even-num- 
bered year,  a  biennial  budget  for  the  Committee  and  of  such 
of  the  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction  as  are  wholly  or  partly 
supported  by  the  Commonwealth,  and  for  that  purpose  to  re- 
quire of  such  institutions  such  reports  from  time  to  time  as  the 
Committee  shall  deem  necessary;  and 

(h)  To  make  rules  and  regulations  establishing  a  uniform 
system  of  accounting  and  bookkeeping  in  all  institutions  within 
its  jurisdiction. 

It  is  also  recommended  that  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
be  authorized  and  directed  to  choose  a  Secretary,  not  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Public  Charities,  at  a  salary  of  $7500  per  an- 
num, who  shall  be  the  executive  officer  of  the  Committee  and 
an  expert  in  the  care  and  treatment  of  delinquents,  and  who 
shall  be  known  as  the  "Commissioner  of  Delinquency." 

Second. — The  Commission  further  recommends  that  the 
General  Assembly  provide  by  appropriate  legislation  for  the 
employment  of  all  the  able-bodied  convicts  of  the  Common- 
wealth in  useful  and,  so  far  as  possible,  in  productive  labor, 
and  especially,  that  it  vest  in  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
the  powers  of  the  Prison  Labor  Commission  and  the  functions 
of  the  Business  Agent  of  such  Commission  and  enlarge  such 
powers  and  functions  as  suggested  on  page  15  of  this  report. 

Third. — The  Commission  further  recommends  the  enactment 
of  a  law  establishing  four  State  Industrial  Farms,  to  receive, 
care  for  and  provide  for  the  useful  employment  of  the  inmates 
of  county  prisons  and  jails  and  of  persons  hereafter  convicted 
of  any  offense  punishable  by  imprisonment  in  any  county  jail 
or  prison  who  have  been  or  shall  hereafter  be  sentenced  for  a 
term  of  thirty  days  or  more. 

Fourth. — The  Commission  further  recommends  that  the  Act 
of  Assembly  approved  July  17,  1917  (No.  337),  providing  for 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  33 

the  employment,  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  of  inmates 
of  county  jails  at  agricultural  labor  on  any  county  or  almshouse 
farm,  be  amended  so  as  to  continue  its  operations  indefinitely 
after  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

Fifth. — The  Commission  further  recommends  that  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  provide  for  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  land,  of 
not  less  than  600  nor  more  than  1200  acres,  to  be  used  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  as  a  prison  farm. 

Sixth. — The  Commission  further  recommends  that  a  law  be 
enacted  prohibiting  fees  or  allowances  and  contracts  for  fur- 
nishing meals  to  the  inmates  of  county  jails  or  other  penal 
institutions  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Seventh. — The  Commission  further  recommends  that  the  Act 
approved  June  19,  1911,  authorizing  the  courts  in  the  case  of 
a  person  sentenced  to  a  penitentiary  to  fix  as  the  minimum  term 
of  imprisonment  any  period  less  than  the  maximum  prescribed 
by  law  for  the  offense  of  which  such  person  was  convicted,  be 
amended  by  a  provision  that  the  minimum  limit  of  the  sen- 
tence imposed  shall  never  exceed  one-third  of  the  maximum 
prescribed  by  the  Court. 

In  the  foregoing  recommendations  the  Commission  has  con- 
fined itself  to  matters  requiring  legislative  action  and  to  such 
only  as  seem  to  it  to  be  essential  to  a  consistent,  integrated 
policy  of  penal  administration.  All  other  matters  with  respect 
to  which  the  Commission  has  given  expression  to  its  views  are 
either  subsidiary  to  those  on  which  immediate  legislative  action 
is  recommended  or  are  such  as  may  be  properly  referred  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  proposed  Committee  on  Delinquency  for  con- 
sideration and  action.  The  greatest  abuse  of  the  prevailing 
prison  system — the  lack  of  imagination  and  of  understanding 


34  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

which  keeps  alive  in  most  of  our  penal  establishments  the 
methods  of  a  severe  and  repressive  discipline — cannot  be  abol- 
ished by  legislative  decree.  The  greatest  reform  of  which  the 
system  is  capable — the  awakening  in  the  inmates  of  the  new 
life  which  comes  from  active,  responsible  participation  in  the 
life  of  the  prison  community — is  equally  beyond  the  reach  of 
legislative  action.  These  will  be  the  fruits  of  a  keener  intelli- 
gence and  of  a  deeper  understanding  than  have  yet,  except  in  a 
few  rare  instances,  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  problem.  But 
your  Commission  believes  that  the  plan  of  penal  administration 
which  it  has  recommended,  and  which  provides  for  the  most 
thorough-going  study  and  the  most  intelligent  treatment  of  the 
individual  delinquent  which  has  yet  been  attempted,  will  gradu- 
ally prepare  the  way  for  these  and  other  reforms  in  the  penal 
system  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

FLETCHER  W.  STITES,  Chairman, 
ALFRED  E.  JONES, 
MARTHA  P.  FALCONER, 
LOUIS  N.  ROBINSON, 
ALBERT  H.  VOTAW, 

Commissioners. 
GEORGE  W.  KIRCH WEY, 

Counsel  to  the  Commission. 
JANUARY  i,  1919. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  35 

SPECIAL  EMERGENCY  REPORT.— No.  i. 
To  His  Excellency,  Governor  Martin  G.  Brumbaugh: 

Your  Commission  appointed  pursuant  to  Act  No.  409  of  the 
Public  Laws  of  1917  "to  investigate  prison  systems  and  the 
management  of  correctional  institutions  within  this  Common- 
wealth and  elsewhere"  and  "to  recommend  such  revision  of  the 
existing  prison  system  within  this  Commonwealth  *  *  * 
as  it  shall  deem  wise,"  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  mobiliz- 
ing the  unused  labor  power  of  the  penal  institutions  of  the 
State  for  the  furtherance  of  the  policy  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  respectfully  submits  this 
special  emergency  report. 

The  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  has  an  enviable  record 
as  a  leader  in  the  cause  of  penal  reform.  In  more  than  one 
instance  it  has  contributed  new  and  original  ideas  and  has  given 
a  new  direction  to  the  reforming  energies  of  those  who  have 
striven  for  a  better  solution  of  the  problem  of  crime.  In  the 
field  of  convict  labor  however,  we  have  lagged  behind  other 
progressive  communities.  While  many  other  States  have  during 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century  made  great  progress  in  the  intro- 
duction of  industrial  plants  into  their  penal  establishments  and 
in  the  employment  of  their  convict  population  in  roadmaking, 
farming  and  other  useful  and  productive  work,  the  traditional 
"Pennsylvania  System"  of  separate  and  solitary  confinement, 
supplemented  by  restrictive  legislation,  has  hampered  and  de- 
layed a  similar  development  in  this  State.  It  is  only  in  the  last 
few  years,  during  your  administration,  that  legislation  has  been 
enacted  removing  the  restrictions  previously  in  force  and  open- 
ing the  way  to  the  fullest  possible  employment  of  the  convict 
population  of  the  State  in  useful  work.*  But  this  legisla- 

*  Reference  is  here  made  to  the  Act  of  1915  (No.  289)  providing  for  the 
employment  of  the  inmates  of  the  two  State  Penitentiaries  and  of  the  State 
Reformatory  at  Huntingdon  in  the  manufacture  of  goods  for  public  use;  to 


36  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

tion  has  been  to  recent  to  produce  any  considerable  results. 
Our  large  convict  population,  numbering  upwards  of  10,000 
souls,  is  still  for  the  most  part  maintained  in  idleness. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  this  legislation  permitting  the 
general  employment  of  the  inmates  of  our  penal  institutions 
might  be  allowed  to  work  itself  out  in  practice  in  the  leisurely 
fashion  in  which  such  things  are  generally  done  in  this 
country.  But  your  Commission  is  strongly  of  the  opinion 
that,  in  the  face  of  the  emergency  confronting  the  nation, 
this  habitual  attitude  of  slackness  should  not  be  tolerated 
and  that  it  is  our  patriotic  duty  at  once  to  devise  and  put 
into  effect  whatever  measures  may  be  necessary  to  put  our 
convict  labor  power  at  the  service  of  the  government.  To  do 
this  will  require  new  measures  and  a  new  and  more  energetic 
exploitation  of  our  prison  labor  resources  than  the  laws  above 
referred  to — which  were  conceived  in  time  of  peace — have  in 
contemplation.  Nothing  less  than  the  powers  of  your  high 
office  will  be  adequate  to  meet  the  emergency. 

The  foreign  governments  with  whose  co-operation  we  are 
waging  war  have  dealt  radically  with  the  problem.  The  prisons 
of  Italy,  France  and  Great  Britain,  together  with  those  of 
the  great  self-governing  commonwealths  of  Canada,  Australia, 
New  Zealand  and  South  Africa,  have  been  almost  depopu- 
lated, a  large  proportion  of  the  inmates  having  been  paroled 
or  pardoned  for  enlistment  in  the  army  and  navy,  where 
they  have  for  the  most  part  acquitted  themselves  like  men. 
This  solution  of  the  problem  is  barred  to  us  by  the  Act  of 
Congress  which  excludes  ex-convicts  from  service  in  the  armed 

the  Act  of  1915  (No.  357)  authorizing  the  State  Highway  Commissioner  and 
the  Commissioners  of  the  several  counties  to  employ  inmates  of  penal  institu- 
tions in  the  construction  and  repair  of  State  and  county  roads ;  to  the  Act  of 
1917  (No.  314)  authorizing  the  State  Highway  Commissioner  to  requisition 
inmates  of  penal  institutions  for  work  on  State  and  State-aid  highways ;  to 
the  Act  of  1917  creating  nine  industrial  farms  for  the  employment  of  the  in- 
mates of  county  jails  and  workhouses,  and  to  the  Act  of  the  same  year  (No. 
337)  providing  for  the  employment  of  the  inmates  of  county  jails  on  county 
farms  or  almshouse  farms.  Reference  should  also  be  made  to  the  Act  of  1911, 
under  which  a  farm  of  approximately  5,000  acres  was  purchased  in  Centre 
County  for  the  use  of  the  Western  Penitentiary. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  37 

forces  of  the  Nation.  But,  as  we  are  constantly  reminded, 
the  war  is  being  fought  back  at  home — in  munition  works,  on 
the  farms  and  in  the  mines  and  wherever  productive  work 
can  be  done — as  well  as  in  the  battle  line,  and  it  is  here  that 
our  opportunity  lies. 

No  commonwealth  in  the  Union  affords  opportunities  for 
essential  service  surpassing  those  which  we  possess.  The 
central  position  which  Pennsylvania  occupies  in  the  war-work 
of  the  National  Government,  as  perhaps  the  chief  source  of 
supply  for  fuel,  shipping,  steel  and  munitions  of  war,  with 
her  countless  acres  of  fruitful  land  and  her  thousands  of  miles 
of  necessary  highways,  opens  up  a  vista  of  opportunity  to 
serve  the  common  cause  to  which  we  can  no  longer  shut  our 
eyes. 

In  estimating  the  man-power  available  for  war-work  in  our 
penal  establishments,  the  Commission  can  give  only  approxi- 
mate .figures.  No  complete  and  trustworthy  industrial  survey 
of  the  convict  population  of  the  State  has  ever  been  made, 
and  the  population  statistics  which  have  been  placed  at  our 
disposal  fail  in  most  instances  to  give  detailed  information 
as  to  the  numbers  deemed  capable  of  full-time  work  or  even 
of  the  number"  actually  employed  in  useful,  productive  labor. 
From  the  facts  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commission  it  would 
appear  that  the  total  convict  population  of  the  State  is  some- 
what in  excess  of  10,000,  approximately  one-half  of  which  is 
to  be  found  in  the  six  State  institutions*  and  the  other  half 
in  the  , seventy  county  prisons.  Approximately  1600  of  the 
total  number  are  children  in  the  three  institutions  for  juvenile 
delinquents,  and  as  most  of  these  are  quite  young  (under 
sixteen  years  of  age),  and  as  practically  all  of  them  are  use- 
fully employed  in  agriculture  or  other  productive  work,  they 
do  not  enter  directly  into  our  problem. 

*  The  Eastern  Penitentiary  at  Philadelphia;  the  Western  Penitentiary  at 
Allegheny  and  Bellefonte;  the  State  Industrial  Reformatory  at  Huntingdon; 
the  Glen  Mills  Schools  (Sleighton  Farms  and  Glen  Mills),  and  the  State  In- 
dustrial School  at  Morganza. 


38  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

Of  the  3000  men  in  the  two  penitentiaries  (including  those 
at  Belle  fonte)  1200  are  reported  as  unemployed.  But,  as 
many  of  the  remaining  1800  are  only  partially  employed  or 
are  employed  in  non-essential  industries,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that,  if  put  on  a  war  basis,  at  least  800  of  these  would  be 
available  for  service.  A  similar  deduction  might  be  made 
from  the  figures  submitted  from  the  Industrial  Reformatory 
at  Huntingdon,  90  per  cent,  of  whose  inmates  are  reported 
to  be  employed,  largely  in  "trade  school  work."  Putting  this 
institution  also  on  a  war  basis,  it  is  perhaps  not  unreasonable 
to  assume  that  upwards  of  one-half  could  be  spared  for  war 
service.  On  this  calculation,  the  three  State  prisons  for  men 
and  youth  of  working  age  should  be  able  to  furnish  some 
2400  men  for  the  contemplated  service,  without  materially  im- 
pairing the  maintenance  work  of  the  institutions. 

The  county  jails  present  more  of  a  problem.  They  range  in 
population  from  the  1038  of  the  Philadelphia  County  institu- 
tions (Moyamensing  and  the  Convict  Prison  at  Holmesburg) 
to  the  emptiness  of  the  Pike  County  jail  at  Milford.  Thirty- 
three  have  less  than  10  inmates  each  and  only  10  have  more 
than  100.  Moreover,  the  character  of  the  population  of  the 
jails  is  much  inferior  from  the  industrial  point  of  view  to 
that  of  the  State  prison.  There  are  more  "bums,"  alcoholic 
wrecks  and  decayed  criminals.  But  neither  of  these  considera- 
tions has  much  bearing  on  the  problem  under  consideration. 
Even  the  most  worthless  of  the  jail  population  can  do  the 
ordinary  cleaning  and  other  maintenance  work  of  the  institu- 
tion, thus  setting  the  more  able-bodied  free  for  war  service. 
Moreover,  the  measures  which  the  Commission  submits  here- 
with make  provision  for  the  employment  of  every  man  capable 
of  doing  a  day's  work  whether  the  jail  population  be  large 
or  small. 

The  further  fact  that  wrongdoers  committed  to  the  county 
prison  are  usually  sentenced  for  short  terms,  rarely  as  long  as 
a  year,  need  not  seriously  embarrass  the  operation  of  the 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  39 

plan  proposed.  Many  of  them,  whose  criminal  practices  were 
due  to  lack  of  steady  employment,  will  doubtless  be  glad  to 
continue  the  work  to  which  they  are  assigned  after  the  ex- 
piration of  their  terms,  and  those  of  whom  this  is  not  true, 
can  be  assigned  to  work  requiring  no  special  skill  or  experience, 
such  as  road-making,  the  production  of  road  material  and  farm 
labor. 

Only  a  rough  and  approximate  estimate  can  be  made  of  the 
number  of  inmates  of  the  county  prisons  who  are  available 
for  war  work.  In  only  a  few  of  the  larger  institutions  has 
any  serious  attempt  been  made  to  set  them  at  any  work  other 
than  such  as  incident  to  the  maintenance  of  the  jail.  Of  the  I 
492  inmates  of  the  Allegheny  County  Prison,  only  about  15 
per  cent,  are  employed,  leaving  over  400  idle.  At  the  same 
time  practically  all  the  738  inmates  of  the  Workhouse  in  that 
County  were  reported  as  employed,  either  in  farm  work  or  in 
manufacturing.  The  same  was  true  of  the  465  inmates  of  the 
Philadelphia  House  of  Correction  at  Holmesburg,  whereas  the 
600  inmates  of  the  County  Prison  (Moyamensing)  are  with  a 
few  exceptions  unemployed. 

Upon  the  whole  it  is  safe  to  assert — on  the  basis  of  investiga- 
tions conducted  by  members  of  the  Commission  and  its  counsel 
—that  from  one-half  to  two-thirds  of  the  jail  and  workhouse 
population  of  the  State  is  maintained  in  idleness  or  in  only 
desultory  and  occasional  labor.  Little  use  has  so  far  been 
made  of  the  authority  granted  by  the  law  of  1917,  permitting 
County  Commissioners  to  employ  inmates  of  jails  in  agricultural 
work  on  county  or  almshouse  farms  and  not  one  of  the  nine 
districts  created  by  the  County  Industrial  Farm,  Workhouse 
or  Reformatory  Act  of  the  same  year  has  adopted  measures  to 
put  the  law  into  operation. 

These  facts  lead  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  not  less 
than  5000  of  the  inmates  of  our  penal  institutions  are  now 
available  for  war  work  in  addition  to  the  number  now  usefully 
employed. 


4O  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

This  situation  has  been  conservatively  but  more  dramatically 
described  by  a  member  of  our  Commission,  who  after  a  careful 
investigation  made  in  1914  and  verified  in  1916,  reported  that 
the  Commonwealth  was  throwing  away  upwards  of  a  million 
days  of  labor  every  year  in  its  penal  institutions. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  numbers  given  are  practi- 
cally constant,  the  number  of  new  commitments  being  approxi- 
mately equal  to  the  number  annually  pardoned,  paroled  and  dis- 
charged. 

To  deal  with  this  situation  radical  measures,  suitable  only  in 
a  war  emergency,  will  be  necessary.  The  lack  of  an  adequate 
centralized  authority  to  commandeer  this  wasted  labor  force, 
must  be  made  up  by  the  voluntary  co-operation  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  State  and  local  officials  acting  under  the  direction  of  the 
Governor  in  accordance  with  a  comprehensive,  well-thought  out 
plan  of  action.  The  Commission  would  respectfully  suggest  the 
following  as  the  essential  elements  of  such  a  plan : — 

First. — That  the  courts  of  criminal  jurisdiction  throughout 
the  State  be  induced  to  exercise  liberally  the  discretion  vested  in 
them  by  the  penal  law  of  suspending  sentence  and  placing  on 
probation  for  war  work  persons  arraigned  before  them  for 
sentence.  In  this  way,  many  persons  convicted  of  crime,  who 
would  otherwise  be  committed  to  prison  or  set  at  large  to  resume 
their  usual  occupations,  may  be  drafted  into  essential  war  indus- 
tries. 

The  Attorney  General  of  the  Commonwealth  has  already  (by 
letters  addressed  to  the  Judges  of  Quarter  Sessions  and  of  Oyer 
and  Terminer  under  date  of  April  16,  1918),  recommended  such 
action  by  the  courts.  This  recommendation  should  be  renewed 
with  added  emphasis  and  made  the  basis  of  a  consistent  general 
policy  dictated  by  the  increasing  seriousness  of  the  war  labor 
problem. 

Second. — That  the  Board  of  Pardons  be  urged  to  make  more 
extended  use  of  the  powers  vested  in  it,  with  the  view  of  par- 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  41 

doning  for  war  service  such  of  the  inmates  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Penitentiaries  and  of  the  State  Industrial  Reformatory 
at  Huntingdon,  as  in  their  opinion  may  safely  be  entrusted  with 
their  freedom  for  this  purpose,  as  well  as  of  all  other  institu- 
tions to  whose  inmates  their  jurisdiction  extends. 

Third. — That  the  Board  of  Inspectors  of  the  two  State  peni- 
tentiaries, of  the  Huntingdon  Reformatory,  and  of  other  con- 
vict prisons  where  such  boards  have  the  power  of  parole,  and 
the  Courts  of  Quarter  Sessions  and  Oyer  and  Terminer  of  the 
several  counties,  be  instructed  to  parole  for  war  work  such  in- 
mates eligible  to  parole  in  the  institutions  to  which  their  author- 
ity respectively  extends,  as  in  their  opinion  can  wisely  be  en- 
trusted with  their  freedom  for  this  purpose. 

Fourth. — That  the  State  Highway  Commissioner  be  directed 
to  prepare  and  put  into  effect  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment 
a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  utilization  of  convict  labor  in  the 
construction  and  repair  of  State  roads  (under  the  Act  of  1917, 
heretofore  referred  to),  with  special  reference  to  such  roads 
as  minister  to  the  war  needs  of  the  Government. 

Fifth. — That  the  County  Commissioners  of  the  several  coun- 
ties be  requested  to  prepare  and  put  into  effect  similar  plans 
for  the  employment  of  convicts  on  county  roads,  under  the  Act 
of  1917,  heretofore  referred  to. 

Sixth. — That  the  trustees  of  the  nine  industrial  farms  cre- 
ated by  the  County  Industrial  Farm,  Workhouse  and  Reform- 
atory Act  of  1917,  be  requested  to  meet  in  their  respective  dis- 
tricts and  proceed  without  delay  to  carry  into  effect  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Act. 

Seventh. — That  the  Prison  Labor  Commission  be  instructed  to 
prepare  at  once  a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  employment  of 


42  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

the  inmates  of  the  two  State  penitentiaries  and  of  the  Hunting- 
don Reformatory  in  accordance  with  the  Act  of  1915,  with 
special  reference  to  the  production  of  goods  of  an  essential 
character  in  time  of  war. 

Eighth. — That  the  Wardens  and  Boards  of  Inspectors  of  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Penitentiaries  and  the  Superintendent  and 
Board  of  Inspectors  of  the  Huntingdon  Reformatory  be  re- 
quested to  secure  the  use  of  farm  land  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
respective  institutions  for  the  employment  of  all  the  available 
inmates  of  such  institutions  in  productive  agricultural  labor. 

Ninth. — That  the  governing  authorities  of  the  several  county 
prisons,  workhouses  and  jails  and  of  the  Philadelphia  House  of 
Correction  be  requested  to  devise  and  put  into  effect  immediate 
plans  for  the  employment  of  their  available  inmates  in  produc- 
tive agricultural  labor  either  on  county  farms  or  almshouse 
farms  (as  provided  in  the  Joint  Resolution  of  July  15,  1917), 
or  by  securing  the  use  of  farm  land  for  that  purpose. 

The  experience  of  other  States  has  demonstrated  that  the 
owners  of .  farm  lands  who  have  no  immediate  use  for  the  same 
are  willing  from  patriotic  motives  to  place  them  at  the  service 
of  the  State  for  the  purpose  indicated. 

In  order  that  the  labor  power  thus  put  into  operation  shall  be 
employed  to  the  best  advantage  of  the  Government  in  carrying 
on  the  war,  it  is  important  that  a  priority  scale  of  essential  in- 
dustries be  established  with  the  advice  and  co-operation  of  the 
War  Industries  Board,  and  the  United  States  Employment  Serv- 
ice in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  meantime,  the  menac- 
ing dearth  of  labor  in  mining,  shipbuilding,  airplane  construc- 
tion, steel  production  and  transportation,  suggests  that  quali- 
fied convicts  who  are  released  for  war  work  should  so  far  as 
possible  be  drafted  for  these  forms  of  service.  Roadmaking 
and  agriculture  can  be  carried  on  by  the  more  trustworthy  in- 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  43 

mates  who  are  not  eligible  for  release.  The  maintenance  work 
of  the  institutions  and  the  necessary  manufacture  of  shoes, 
clothing,  etc.,  for  the  inmates  can  be  done  by  those  who  cannot 
be  trusted  in  outdoor  work  and  by  those  too  weak  for  the  more 
strenuous  forms  of  labor. 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance,  also,  that  the  powers  invoked 
to  carry  the  foregoing  plan  into  effect  shall  be  exercised  gener- 
ously and  fearlessly.  We  are  mobilizing  for  war  and  the  hesi- 
tations and  the  timidities  suitable  and  natural  in  time  of  peace 
must  give  way  to  boldness  and  resolute  action.  The  prisons 
must  be  put  on  a  war  basis  and  purged  not  only  of  the  shameful 
idleness  characteristic  of  them  but  of  every  form  of  unessential 
labor.  Because  the  country  above  all  requires  free  labor  for  its 
war  needs,  as  many  convicts  as  possible  should  be  set  free  to 
be  employed  where  the  need  is  greatest.  The  presumed  need  of 
the  wrongdoer  for  further  punishment  must  yield  to  the  supreme 
necessities  of  the  nation.  Because  a  man  can  render  a  greater 
service  on  the  farm  or  on  the  roads  than  behind  the  bars,  as 
many  men  as  possible  should  be  put  out  into  the  open  for  the 
more  essential  service.  Risks  must  be  taken  which  in  ordinary 
times  would  be  unwise.  There  may  be  defections,  betrayals 
of  trusts,  desertions,  but  so  there  are  in  the  armed  forces  of  the 
nation.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  they  will  be  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  the  advantages  of  the  policy  as  a  whole. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  a  plan  which  involves  such  a 
variety  of  operations  and  which  calls  for  the  co-operation  of  so 
many  diverse  official  agencies  can  be  carried  to  a  successful 
conclusion  without  some  form  of  centralized  direction.  Obvi- 
ously, the  only  possible  source  of  such  direction  is  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Commonwealth. 

In  the  conviction  that  the  effective  mobilization  of  the  labor 
power  of  our  convict  population  is  a  matter  of  sufficient  moment 
to  the  Commonwealth  and  to  the  country  at  large  to  warrant 
an  appeal  to  your  interest  and  co-operation,  the  Commission 
respectfully  submits  the  following  mode  of  procedure: — 


44  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

1 i )  That  the  Governor  call  conferences  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety  of  the   State,  of  the  Board  of  Pardons,  of  leading 
Judges  of  the  Courts  of  Criminal  Jurisdiction,  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  nine  Industrial  Farms,  of  the  Wardens  and  Inspectors 
of  the  several  State  prisons  and  of  the  Commissioners  of  some 
of  the  more  populous  counties  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
complete  co-operation  of  all  the  official  agencies  necessary  to 
carry  on  the  program  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

(2)  That  the  Governor  appoint  a  Prison  War  Labor  Board, 
to  be  composed  of  not  less  than  five  and  not  more  than  nine 
citizens  of  standing  in  the  community,  to  oversee  and  direct 
the  administration  of  the  system  above  outlined — such  Board 
to  serve  without  compensation  but  if   funds  are  available  for 
the  purpose  to  be  supplied  with  the  sums  necessary  to  cover 
office  expenses  and  the  services  of  an  executive  director  to  be 
appointed  by  it.     The  co-operation  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  can  doubtless  be  secured  for  this  purpose. 

(3)  That  the  Governor  enlist  the  interest  and  co-operation 
of  the  convict  population  and  of  the  people  of  the  Common- 
wealth by  issuing  a  patriotic  appeal  to  them  to  aid  by  every 
means  in  their  power  to  make  the  enterprise  a  success. 

In  conclusion,  your  Commission  begs  to  call  attention  to 
the  permanent  benefits  to  be  realized  from  the  execution  of 
such  a  program.  Not  only  will  the  Commonwealth  have  made 
a  substantial  contribution  to  the  winning  of  the  war,  but  the 
enlightened  policy  so  inaugurated  will  solve  at  a  stroke  the  age- 
long problem  of  engaging  the  entire  convict  population  of  the 
State  in  constructive,  profitable  activity  for  the  common  weal. 
After  this  demonstration  of  the  benefits  of  the  new  order  of 
things  our  penal  system  can  never  go  back  to  the  old  system 
of  waste  and  disorganization.  To  the  convicts  themselves,  the 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  45 

program  opens  a  prospect  of  incalculable  benefit.  For  the  first 
time  the  State  will  have  recognized  them  as  part  and  parcel  of 
the  Commonwealth,  entitled  to  share  with  its  free  citizens  in 
the  high  purpose,  the  sacrifices  and  the  achievements  which  are 
welding  us  into  one  people. 

Patriotism  is  not  a  monoply  of  the  free  citizen.  On  the 
contrary,  most  of  the  men  who  have  been  put  behind  the  bars 
for  criminal  acts,  not  only  love  their  country  and  desire  to  serve 
her,  but  passionately  crave  the  opportunity  to  redeem  them- 
selves, in  their  own  eyes  and  in  those  of  their  fellow  men,  by 
rendering  some  patriotic  service.  That  such  men  make  soldiers 
equal  to  the  best  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of 
our  Allies  previously  referred  to.  That  they  will  serve  equally 
well  in  the  fields  of  patriotic  endeavor  that  we  may  open  to 
them,  the  Commission  is  assured.  For  the  sake  of  these  men, 
in  order  that  they  may  by  the  inspiration  of  patriotic  service 
be  raised  to  the  plane  of  our  citizenship,  as  well  as  for  the  con- 
tribution which  they  may  by  their  labor  make  to  the  great 
cause  for  which  we  are  fighting,  the  Commission  urges  the 
adoption  of  the  measures  herein  recommended. 

FLETCHER  W.  STITES, 

Chairman. 

ALFRED  E.  JONES, 
MARTHA  P.  FALCONER, 
LOUIS  N.  ROBINSON, 
ALBERT  H.  VOTAW, 

Penal  Investigating  Commission. 
GEORGE  W.  KIRCH WEY, 

Counsel  to  Commission. 
SEPTEMBER  i,  1918. 


46  Report  of  Penal  Commission 


SPECIAL  EMERGENCY  REPORT.— No.  2,. 

To  His  Excellency,  Governor  Martin  G.  Brumbaugh:— 

Your  Commission  respectfully  calls  your  attention  to  the 
pressing  necessity,  resulting  from  war  conditions,  of  giving 
immediate  effect  to  the  Act  of  the  Legislature,  approved  by 
you,  instituting  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Women. 

This  institution,  the  result  of  many  years  of  agitation,  was 
created  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  1913,  for  the  reception, 
treatment  and  care  of  girls  and  women  between  16  and  30  years 
of  age  who  should  be  convicted  of  crime  in  any  court  of 
criminal  jurisdiction  in  the  State. 

Its  purpose  was  to  provide  a  more  suitable  place  for  the  de- 
tention and  care  of  women  of  this  class  than  the  State  peni- 
tentiaries and  the  workhouses  and  county  jails  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, where  no  provision  is  made  or  facilities  exist  for 
the  specialized  medical  treatment  and  the  reformatory  influence 
which  such  cases  pre-eminently  require.  In  taking  this  en- 
lightened action  the  Legislature  was  but  following  the  lead 
of  other  progressive  States  which  have  in  recent  years  dem- 
onstrated the  value  of  such  institutions  as  a  means  of  deal- 
Ing  with  the  problem  of  female  delinquency.  Among  in- 
stitutions of  this  type  which  have  gained  wide  recognition 
it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  the  Massachusetts  Reformatory 
for  Women  at  Framingham,  the  New  York  State  Reformatory 
for  Women  at  Bedford  Hills,  the  Western  House  of  Refuge 
for  Women  at  Albion,  New  York,  the  New  Jersey  State 
Reformatory  for  Women  at  Clinton,  and  the  Ohio  Reformatory 
for  Women  at  Marysville.  The  two  New  York  institutions 
have  a  combined  population  of  upwards  of  600  inmates  and 
it  is  estimated  that  this  number  could  easily  be  doubled  if 
sufficient  room  were  provided  to  accommodate  all  who  need 
the  care  and  treatment  that  these  institutions  afford.  In  Penn- 
sylvania the  girls  and  women  for  whom  the  State  Industrial 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  47 

Home  was  intended  now  languish  in  the  unsuitable  and  often 
degrading  confinement  of  the  penitentiaries,  workhouses  and 
jails,  or  are,  more  frequently,  set  at  large  by  judges  who  are 
unwilling  to  commit  any  but  the  most  degraded  and  dangerous 
to  the  ordinary  penal  establishments. 

But  these  conditions,  which  have  long  been  a  reproach  to 
the  Commonwealth,  have  now  been  suddenly  intensified  and 
rendered  acute  by  the  war  needs  and  policies  of  the  nation. 
National,  State  and  Municipal  authorities  are  energetically  co- 
operating in  the  effort  to  maintain  the  efficiency  and  morale  of, 
the  fighting  and  working  forces  on  which  our  safety  depends 
by  removing  from  the  neighborhood  of  training  camps,  ship- 
yards, munition  plants,  etc.,  the  degraded  girls  and  women 
who  lie  in  wait  for  our  young  men.  Laws  have  been  passed 
and  a  vast  machinery  of  organized  effort  set  in  motion  to 
cope  with  this  evil,  but  the  effort  of  the  law  enforcing  agencies 
is  paralyzed  by  the  lack  of  places  of  detention  and  treatment  to 
which  those  who  maintain  this  menace  can  be  committed.  For 
this  purpose  the  jails  and  workhouses  are  wholly  unfitted.  To 
commit  a  woman  of  this  class  to  such  a  place,  where  she  can 
neither  be  adequately  treated  nor  reformed  and  from  which 
she  will  in  a^few  weeks  or  a  few  months  be  released  to  re- 
sume her  nefarious  trade,  is  manifestly  to  palter  with  a  critical 
situation  which  demands  a  more  drastic  remedy.  For  this 
reason  our  prosecuting  authorities,  both  State  and  Federal,  are 
generally  releasing  such  women  on  bail  or  on  their  own  recog- 
nizance without  putting  them  to  trial. 

To  open  the  State  Industrial  Home  for  Women  for  the  re- 
ception of  such  offenders  would,  to  the  extent  of  its  capacity, 
conclusively  solve  this  problem.  Here  they  can  be  put  under 
competent  medical  and  reformatory  treatment  and,  if  not  re- 
formed, kept  in  confinement  under  an  indeterminate  sentence 
until  the  immediate  purpose  of  this  segregation  has  been  ac- 
complished. 

The  original  Act  instituting  the  State  Industrial  Home  for 
Women  provided  that  the  institution  should  be  opened  as  soon 


48  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

as  it  had  room  for  the  reception  of  200  inmates.  This  Act 
was  amended  by  the  Act  of  1915  providing  for  the  transfer  of 
the  buildings  and  grounds  to  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the 
new  institution  as  soon  as  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
care  of  50  inmates.  Your  Commission  is  advised  that  the 
buildings  and  grounds  have  now  been  substantially  completed 
in  accordance  with  the  original  plans  with  a  capacity  for 
150  inmates  and  that,  if  the  work  is  pushed  with  the  requisite 
energy  they  can  easily  be  made  ready  for  occupancy  and  use 
by  the  first  of  November. 

In  view  of  these  facts  and  of  the  urgency  of  the  situation, 
the  Commission  respectfully  recommends : — 

(1)  That  the  Building  Commission  be  instructed  to  complete 
the  work  entrusted  to  them  with  the  utmost  possible  speed;  and 

(2)  That  you  appoint  at  once  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the 
institution  provided  by  the  Act  of   1913  and  instruct  them  to 
proceed  without  delay  to   furnish  and  equip  the  buildings  so 
as  to  have  them  ready  for  occupancy  as  soon  as  they  are  com- 
pleted and  in  the  meantime  to  appoint  the  Superintendent  and 
make  and  publish  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government 
of  the  institution. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

FLETCHER  W.  STITES, 

Chairman  Commission  to  Investigate 

Penal   Conditions. 
SEPTEMBER  15,   1918. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  49 


AN  ACT 

For  the  centralized  regulation  and  supervision  of 
penal,  correctional,  and  reformatory  institutions  within 
this  Commonwealth,  and  of  the  labor  of  the  inmates 
thereof;  creating  a  Committee  on  Delinquency  to  be 
elected  by  the  Board  of  Public  Charities  from  its 
members,  with  a  Commissioner  of  Delinquency  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Committee  as  its  executive  officer; 
providing  for  the  appointment  of  certain  directors 
and  of  such  other  directors,  experts,  agents,  and  em- 
ployees as  shall  be  necessary;  enumerating;  the  powers 
and  duties  of  the  Committee;  providing  for  the  trans- 
fer with  the  approval  of  the  Courts  of  inmates  from 
one  institution  to  another;  requiring  all  institutions 
within  the  jurisdictions  of  the  Committee  to  obey  its 
rules  and  regulations,  make  reports,  and  give  inmates 
an  opportunity  to  work  at  useful  employment;  pro- 
viding for  the  payment  of  compensation  to  the  inmates 
of  certain  institutions  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Committee;  abolishing  the  prison  Labor  Commission; 
fixing  penalties  for  disobedience  of  the  provisions  of 
this  Act,  and  making  an  appropriation. 

SECTION  i.^Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  met  amd  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  the  Board  of  Public  Charities  shall  appoint  a  stand- 
ing committee  of  five  of  its  members  to  be  known  as  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency.  Such  Committee  shall  be  chosen  within 
thirty  days  after  the  approval  of  this  Act,  and  annually  there- 
after, by  a  majority  vote  of  all  of  the  members  of  the  Board, 
and  at  least  one  member  of  such  Committee  shall  be  a  woman. 
Vacancies  in  the  membership  of  the  Committee  shall  be  filled 
in  like  manner.  Within  thirty  days  after  their  selection,  the 
Committee  shall  each  year  elect  one  of  its  members  as  chair- 
man. 


50  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

The  members  of  the  Committee  shall  serve  without  com- 
pensation but  shall  receive  all  of  their  travelling  and  other 
necessary  expenses  incurred  in  the  performance  of  their  official 
duties. 

SECTION  2.  The  Committee  selected  under  the  provisions  of 
this  Act  shall  appoint  a  secretary,  who  shall  not  be  a  member 
of  the  Committee  or  of  the  Board  of  Public  Charities.  The 
secretary  shall  be  the  executive  officer  of  the  Committee  and 
shall  be  known  as  the  Commissioner  of  Delinquency.  He  shall 
be  a  person  having  expert  knowledge  respecting  delinquency, 
and  the  care  and  treatment  of  delinquents  and  shall  devote  his 
entire  time  to  the  duties  of  his  office.  He  shall  be  appointed 
for  a  term  of  five  years  and  shall  receive  a  salary  of  seven 
thousand,  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum.  The  Committee 
shall  have  the  power  to  remove  the  Commissioner  at  any  time 
for  inefficiency,  neglect  of  duty,  or  misconduct  in  office.,  and 
shall,  whenever  a  vacancy  occurs  either  by  death,  resignation, 
or  removal  from  office,  appoint  a  Commissioner  to  fill  the  un- 
expired  term. 

SECTION  3.  Subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Committee  on  De- 
linquency, the  Commissioner  of  Delinquency  shall  appoint  a 
medical  director,  an  educational  director,  a  director  of  indus- 
tries, and  such  other  directors,  experts,  agents,  and  employees 
for  such  terms  and  at  such  compensation  as  shall  be  fixed  by 
the  Committee  on  Delinquency.  The  Commissioner  with  the 
approval  of  the  Committee  shall  have  the  power  at  any  time  to 
remove  any  director,  or  any  expert,  agent,  or  employee,  so  ap- 
pointed. 

SECTION  4.  The  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Public  Grounds 
and  Buildings  shall  provide  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
with  suitable  rooms  in  the  State  Capitol,  and  elsewhere  if  neces- 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  51 

sary,  and  shall  upon  requisition  of  the  Commissioner  of  De- 
linquency furnish  for  the  Committee  such  books,  stationery, 
furniture  and  supplies  as  may  be  needed  to  enable  the  Com- 
mittee to  properly  perform  its  duties. 

The  printing  and  binding  necessary  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  Committee,  or  for  the  preservation  of  books,  docu- 
ments, and  papers  filed  with  the  Committee  shall  be  done  by 
the  State  Printer  upon  the  order  of  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Public  Printing  and  Binding  upon  requisition  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Delinquency. 

SECTION  5.  The  Committee  on  Delinquency  shall  have  juris- 
diction for  the  purposes  of  this  act  over  all  institutions  within 
this  Commonwealth  of  a  penal,  correctional,  or  reformatory 
character  now  existing,  or  which  may  hereafter  be  established 
including  industrial  farms,  workhouses,  and  reformatories,  and 
reformatory  institutions  for  minors  or  women,  whether  man- 
aged by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  sub-division  thereof 
or  otherwise;  Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  be  interpreted 
to  deprive  any  warden,  superintendent,  or  other  officer,  or  board 
of  inspectors,  managers,  or  trustees,  of  any  such  institution  of 
the  right  to  manage  its  affairs,  but  every  such  institution  shall 
make  such  reports  to  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  as  the 
Committee  shall  be  authorized  by  this  Act  to  require  and  shall 
obey  the  rules  and  regulations  established,  and  follow  the 
recommendations  made,  by  the  Committee  as  authorized  by  this 
Act. 

SECTION  6.  The  Committee  on  Delinquency  shall  have  the 
power  and  its  duty  shall  be  :— 

(a)  To  inspect  and  investigate  the  condition  and  manage- 
ment of  all  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction,  and  inquire  into 
all  complaints  against  the  same,  and  report  thereon  with  recom- 
mendations of  appropriate  action  to  the  Board  of  Public  Chari- 


52  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

ties,  the  Governor,  the  General  Assembly,  or  the  courts,  as  the 
circumstances  may  require; 

(b)  To  institute,  maintain,  and  supervise  a  medical  service 
to  accomplish  the  purposes  enumerated  in  this  Act; 

(c)  To    make    recommendations    to    institutions    within    its 
jurisdiction  for  the  improvement  of  the  sanitary  and  hygienic 
conditions,  the  medical  and  hospital  equipment,  and  the  medical 
service  thereof; 

(d)  To  transfer  inmates  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion to  other  institutions  owned,  managed,  or  controlled  by  the 
Commonwealth  or  any  political  sub-division  thereof,  or  if  suit- 
able arrangements  can  be  made,  to  other  institutions,   where 
such   inmates   may   receive   treatment   more    suitable   to   their 
mental   and  physical   condition;  Provided,  That  prior  to   the 
transfer  from  one  institution  to  another  of  any  such  inmate, 
the  consent  of  the  Court  which  committed  such  inmate  shall  be 
procured;  And  provided  further,  That  the  person  or  community 
responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  any  beneficiary  transferred 
from  one  institution  to  another  shall  be  liable  to  pay  to  the 
institution  to  which  such  beneficiary  shall  have  been  transferred 
the  cost  of  maintenance  of  such  beneficiary  at  the  rate  of  the 
average  per  capita  cost  of  maintenance  in  such  institutions; 

(e)  To    institute,    maintain,    and    supervise    in    institutions 
within  its  jurisdiction  a  system  of  correctional  and  reforma- 
tory educaton  to  accomplish  the  purposes  enumerated  in  this 
Act; 

(/)  To  institute,  maintain,  and  supervise  a  system  for  the 
employment  of  the  inmates  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion as  provided  in  this  Act; 

(g)  To  prepare  and  submit  to  the  Board  of  Public  Chari- 
ties, not  later  than  the  first  day  of  December  of  each  even- 
numbered  year,  a  biennial  budget  for  the  committee  and  such 
of  the  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction  as  are  wholly  or 
partly  supported  by  the  Commonwealth.  Such  budget  shall  set 
forth  the  expenditures  of  the  Committee  and  such  institutions 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  53 

during  the  preceding  two  years,  their  estimated  financial  needs 
for  the  succeeding  two  years,  and  such  other  information  as  the 
Committee  shall  deem  appropriate. 

To  enable  it  to  prepare  such  budget,  the  Committee  shall 
have  the  power  to  require  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion, and  such  institutions  shall  prepare  and  submit,  such  re- 
ports from  time  to  time  as  the  Committee  shall  deem  necessary, 
but  to  the  extent  that  reports  shall  be  required  by  the  Commit- 
tee for  the  purpose  of  preparing  such  budget ;  institutions  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Committee  shall  not  be  required  to  report 
to  the  Board  of  Public  Charities;  and, 

(h)  To  make  rules  and  regulations  establishing  a  uniform 
system  of  accounting  and  bookkeeping  in  all  institutions  within 
its  jurisdiction. 

SECTION  7.  The  medical  service  which  the  Committee  on 
Delinquency  is  by  this  Act  required  to  institute,  maintain,  and 
supervise  shall  include : — 

(a)  The  prompt   and   thorough   examination   of  all   of   the 
inmates  of  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction  with  a  view  to 
the  proper  diagnosis,  classification,  and  treatment  of  all  such 
persons ; 

(b)  The  prescription  and  maintenance  of  standards  in  diag- 
nosis and  treatment  in  all  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction 
and  the  determination  of  the  qualifications  of  those  selected  as 
physicians,  psychiatrists,   stewards,  or  nurses,  in  such  institu- 
tions; 

(c)  The   furnishing  of  instructions  in   personal  and   social 
hygiene  to  the  inmates  of  all  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction, 
and  of   instruction   in   professional  training  to   such   officials, 
employees,   or  inmates  of  such  institutions  as  may  be  called 
upon  to  serve  as  assistants,  nurses,  or  otherwise,  in  the  medi- 
cal or  hospital  departments  thereof; 


54  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

(d)  The   frequent  inspection  of  the  institutions  within  its 
jurisdiction  with  respect  to  their  sanitary  and  hygienic  condi- 
tion, the  adequacy  of  their  medical   and   hospital   equipment, 
and  the  competency  and  efficiency  of  their  medical  service ;  and, 

(e)  The  installation  and  supervision  of  a  proper  dietary  ade- 
quate to  the  maintenance  of  the  health,  efficiency,  and  morale, 
of  the  inmates  in  all  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction. 

SECTION  8.  The  system  of  correctional  and  reformatory 
education  which  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  is  by  this  Act 
required  to  institute,  maintain,  and  supervise  shall  include  :— 

(a)  The  prescription  and  maintenance  of  standards  of  cor- 
rectional and  reformatory  education  in  all  institutions  within 
its  jurisdiction  and  the  determination  of  the  qualifications  of 
those  selected  as  teachers;  and, 

(b)  The  education  in  elementary  branches  of  illiterate  and 
undeveloped  inmates  of  such  institutions;  the  instruction  of  all 
inmates  of  such  institutions  in  the  principles,  organization,  and 
practice  of   American   government;   and   the    furnishing   of   a 
thorough   industrial   training  to   any   of   the   inmates   of   such 
institutions  for  whom  such  training  shall  be  deemed  useful  and 
desirable. 

SECTION  9.  With  respect  to  the  labor  of  the  inmates  of  any 
institutions  within  its  jurisdiction  to  which  persons  are  com- 
mitted for  crime  or  delinquency,  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
shall  have  the  power  and  its  duty  shall  be:— 

(a)  To  require  every  such  institution  to  afford  to  the  in- 
mates thereof,  who  are  physically  capable,  an  opportunity  to 
perform  useful  labor  in  such  institutions; 

(b)  To   determine   what   industries    shall   be   established   in 
such  institutions  and  to  regulate  and  supervise  the  installation 
of  machinery  and  equipment  therein; 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  55 

(c)  To  establish  rules  and  regulations  for  the  employment 
of  inmates  of  such  institutions  at  road-building,  quarrying,  or 
crushing   stone,   agricultural   work,   land   reclamation,   or    for- 
estry, or  other  suitable  work  outside  of  such  institution;  and, 

(d)  To  establish  rules  with  regard  to  the  number  of  hours 
per  day  during  which  such  inmates  shall  be  employed;  'Pro- 
vided, That  except  in  agricultural  work  such  inmates  shall  not 
be  employed  for  more  than  eight  hours  in  any  one  day. 

SECTION  10.  With  respect  to  the  labor  of  inmates  of  such 
of  the  institutions  within  its  jurisdiction  as  are  owned  or  man- 
aged and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth  or  any  political  sub- 
division thereof,  the  committee  shall,  in  addition  to  the  powers 
and  duties  enumerated  in  the  preceding  section  of  this  act,  have 
the  power  and  its  duty  shall  be: — 

(a)  To  maintain  a  manufacturing  fund  for  the  purposes 
specified  in  this  section.  The  original  manufacturing  fund  of 
the  committee  shall  be  the  manufacturing  fund  paid  to  the 
committee  by  the  Prison  Board  Commission,  as  provided  in 
this  act,  together  with  any  and  all  sums  due  and  owing  to  such 
Commission,  and  the  unexpended  balance  of  any  appropriation 
made  for  the  use  of  such  commission.  To  such  fund  there 
shall  be  added  from  time  to  time  such  amount  or  amounts  as 
shall  be  appropriated  by  the  General  Assembly; 

All  receipts  from  the  sale  of  the  products,  manufactured  or 
produced  by  the  labor  of  the  inmates  of  any  such  institution, 
shall  be  credited  to  the  manufacturing  fund  and  used  for  the 
purchase  of  machinery,  equipment,  raw  materials,  and  supplies, 
and  for  the  payment  of  wages  to  such  inmates; 

(6)  To  sell  to  the  Commonwealth  or  to  any  political  sub- 
division thereof,  or  any  institution,  owned,  managed,  or  con- 
trolled by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision 
thereof,  at  not  more  than  the  prevailing  market  price  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  labor  of  such  inmates;  Provided,  That  institutions 


56  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Committee  owned,  or  managed 
and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivi- 
sion thereof,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  selling  directly  such 
of  their  agricultural  products  as  they  do  not  consume,  but  every 
such  institution  selling  agricultural  products  shall  account  for 
and  pay  to  such  committee  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  such 
products. 

Any  surplus  of  the  products  of  the  labor  of  such  inmates 
which  cannot  be  sold  to  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political 
subdivision  thereof,  or  any  institution  owned,  or  managed  and 
controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  a  political  subdivision 
thereof,  shall  be  sold  in  the  open  market,  but  any  such  product 
sold  in  the  open  market  shall  not  be  sold  for  less  than  the  pre- 
vailing market  price. 

Should  any  institution  desire  to  use  the  products  of  the 
labor  of  its  inmates,  other  than  agricultural  products,  it  shall 
purchase  the  same  from  the  Committee  on  Delinquency. 

(c)  From  time  to  time  to  fix  the  compensation  of  such  in- 
mates for  labor  performed  by  them;  Provided,  That  the  rate 
of  compensation  to  such  inmates  shall  be  based  both  upon  the 
pecuniary  value  of  the  work  performed  and  on  the  willingness, 
industry,  and  good  conduct  of  the  inmate  performing  the  same; 

(d)  To  make  rules  and  regulations  governing  the  payment 
of    compensation   earned   by   such   inmates.      Such    rules    and 
regulations  may  provide  for  the  payment  of  a  part  of  their 
compensation  to  inmates  during  their  term  of  confinement  to 
be  used  for  such  purchases  as  such  rules  and  regulations  shall 
permit.     They  shall  also  provide  for  the  bi-monthly  payment 
of  such  part  of  the  compensation  of  such  inmates  as  the  com- 
mittee shall  determine  to  the  dependents  of  such  inmates,  and 
for  the  payment  of  the  unpaid  balance  of  such  compensation 
to  such  inmates  at  the  time  of  their  discharge,  or  at  periodic 
intervals  on  and  after  their  discharge;  and, 

(e)  To  establish  rules  and  regulations   for  the  keeping  of 
records  and  accounts  by  all  such  institutions,  showing  the  labor 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  57 

performed  by  the  inmates  thereof,  the  value  of  the  products 
thereof,  and  the  wages  paid  to  inmates,  or  their  dependents,  or 
both. 

SECTION  n.  All  wages  paid  to  the  inmates  of  institutions 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
owned,  or  managed  and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or 
any  political  subdivision  thereof,  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  com- 
mittee's manufacturing  fund  upon  the  order  of  the  warden, 
superintendent,  or  other  proper  officer  of  the  institution  in,  or 
in  connection  with,  which  the  labor  shall  have  been  performed. 

I 

SECTION  12.  The  Prison  Labor  Commission  created  by  the 
act  approved  the  first  day  of  June  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  fifteen,  entitled  "An  act  providing  a  system  of  employ- 
ment and  compensation  for  the  inmates  of  the  Eastern  Peni- 
tentiary, Western  Penitentiary,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Indus- 
trial Reformatory  at  Huntingdon,  and  for  such  other  correc- 
tional institutions  as  shall  be  hereafter  established  by  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  making  an  appropriation  therefor"  is  hereby 
abolished,  and  shall  cease  to  exist,  thirty  days  after  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  delinquency  shall  have  notified  the 
Prison  Labor  Commission  in  writing  that  the  Committee  on 
Delinquency  has  been  duly  organized  as  provided  in  this  act. 
Within  such  period  of  thirty  days  the  Prison  Labor  Com- 
mission shall  transfer  and  set  over  to  the  Committee  on  De- 
linquency all  books,  papers,  and  records,  and  all  moneys  and 
evidences  of  debt,  in  its  possession,  and  the  Auditor  Gen- 
eral is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  draw  a  warrant  on 
the  State  Treasurer  for  the  payment  to  the  Committee  on 
Delinquency  of  the  unexpended  balance  of  any  appropria- 
tion made  for  the  use  of  the  Prison  Labor  Commission.. 

SECTION  13.  For  the  purpose  of  inspecting  any  institution 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Committee  on  Delinquency,  such 


58  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

committee,  the  Commissioner  of  Delinquency,  and  any  director, 
expert,  agent,  or  employee,  deputized  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Delinquency  for  the  purpose,  shall  have  free  access  to  the 
grounds,  buildings,  and  all  books,  papers,  and  records  of  such 
institution,  and  all  persons,  connected  with  any  such  institution, 
are  hereby  directed  and  required  to  give  such  information  and 
to  afford  such  facilities  for  inspection  as  the  person  making 
such  inspection  may  require.  Any  officer  or  person  connected 
with  such  institution  who  shall  refuse  to  admit  the  Committee 
on  Delinquency,  the  Commissioner  of  Delinquency,  or  any 
director,  expert,  agent,  or  employee,  deputized  by  him  for  the 
purpose,  or  who  shall  refuse  to  give  any  information,  or  fur- 
nish any  facility,  necessary  for  the  examination  and  inspection 
of  such  institution,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  shall 
upon  conviction  in  the  proper  court  be  subject  to  a  fine  of  one 
hundred  dollars  which  sum  when  so  recovered  shall  be  paid 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Commonwealth. 

SECTION  14.  Should  the  warden,  superintendent,  or  other 
officer,  or  officers,  or  the  board  of  inspectors,  managers,  or 
trustees  of  any  institution,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency,  which  is  owned,  or  managed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision 
thereof,  fail  to  obey  the  rules  and  regulations  established,  or 
to  make  any  report  required,  by  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
under  the  authority  of  this  act,  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
shall  certify  such  fact  to  the  Governor  or  other  officer  or 
officers  of  this  Commonwealth  or  of  the  appropriate  political 
subdivision  thereof,  who  shall  have  appointed  such  warden, 
superintendent,  or  other  officer,  or  officers,  or  board  of  inspec- 
tors, managers,  and  trustees,  and  any  such  warden,  superin- 
tendent, officer,  or  member  of  a  board  of  inspectors,  managers, 
or  trustees,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  shall  upon 
conviction  in  the  proper  court  be  subject  to  a  fine  of  one  hun- 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  59 

dred  dollars,  which  sum  when  so  recovered  shall  be    paid  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Should  any  institution  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Commi- 
tee  on  Delinquency  which  is  not  owned,  or  managed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision 
thereof,  fail  to  obey  such  rules  and  regulations,  or  make  such 
report,  such  institution  shall  not  be  entitled  to  receive  any 
financial  assistance  from  the  Commonwealth,  and  it  shall  be 
unlawful  for  the  Auditor  General,  after  having  received  notice 
in  writing  from  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  that  any  such 
institution  has  failed  to  obey  such  rules  or  regulations,  or  to 
make  such  report,  to  issue  a  warrant  for  the  payment  of  any 
money  appropriated  to  such  institution  so  long  as  such  institu- 
tion shall  continue  to  refuse  to  obey  such  rules  and  regulations, 
or  to  make  such  report. 

SECTION  15.  All  salaries,  compensation,  and  expenses,  pay- 
able under  this  act,  except  wages  for  labor  performed  by  in- 
mates shall  be  paid  by  the  State  Treasurer  on  the  warrant  of 
the  Auditor  General. 

i 

SECTION  16.  To  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  ($200,000),  or  such  part 
thereof  as  shall  be  necessary  is  hereby  appropriated  to  the 
Committee  on  Delinquency. 

SECTION  17.  All  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  herewith 
are  hereby  repealed. 


60  Report  of  Penal  Commission 


AN  ACT 

Providing  for  the  appointment  by  the  Governor  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of  two  additional 
members  of  the  Board  of  Public  Charities. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  met  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  the  Governor  shall,  within  thirty  days  after  the 
approval  of  this  act  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
appoint  two  additional  members  to  the  Board  of  Public  Chari- 
ties at  least  one  of  whom  shall  be  a  woman.  The  said  addi- 
tional members  shall  be  appointed  for  a  term  of  five  years  and, 
in  the  event  that  any  vacancy  shall  occur  by  death  or  resigna- 
tion, the  Governor  shall,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  fill  such  vacancy  by  appointment  for  the  unexpired 
term.  The  Governor  shall  have  such  power  of  removal  with 
regard  to  such  members  as  is  now  provided  by  law  with  re- 
spect to  the  other  members  of  the  Board. 


\eport  of  Penal  Commission  61 


AN  ACT 

Requiring  the  Commonwealth,  and  all  political  sub- 
divisions thereof,  and  all  public  institutions  owned,  or 
managed  and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth  or  any 
political  subdivision  thereof,  to  purchase  certain  sup- 
plies and  materials  from  the  Committee  on  Delin- 
quency of  this  Commonwealth;  providing  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  act  by  the  Committee  on  Delin- 
quency and  others;  making  it  unlawful,  under  certain 
circumstances,  for  the  Auditor  General  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, or  the  Controller,  or  other  auditing  officer 
of  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  to  approve,  or  the 
treasurer  of  any  institution  owned,  or  managed  and 
controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  sub- 
division thereof,  to  pay  any  bill  for  such  supplies  and 
materials  purchased  elsewhere,  and  providing  for  the 
determination  by  a  board  of  arbitration,  chosen  for 
the  purpose,  of  disagreements  arising  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  this  act. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  met  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
samef  That  the  Commonwealth,  and  all  political  subdivisions 
thereof,  and  all  institutions  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled 
by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  shall 
purchase  from  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  of  this  Common- 
wealth all  materials  and  supplies  required  by  them  whenever 
such  committee  shall  be  able  to  furnish  such  supplies  and  ma- 
terials, or  a  substantial  equivalent  thereof,  manufactured  or 
produced  by  the  labor  of  inmates  of  institutions  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  such  committee. 

SECTION  2.  On  or  before  the  fifteenth  day  of  December  of 
each  year,  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  shall  prepare  a  list 
of  classes  of  all  supplies  and  materials,  so  manufactured  or  pro- 
duced, which  it  will  be  prepared  to  furnish  during  the  year 


62  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

commencing  on  the  first  day  of  January  next  ensuing.  A  copy 
of  such  list  shall  be  mailed  by  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
to  the  Auditor  General  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  auditing  of- 
ficer or  officers  of  every  political  subdivision  thereof,  and  the 
treasurer  of  every  institution  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled 
by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  and, 
upon  application,  to  any  officer  or  department  of  the  Common- 
wealth, or  of  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  and  to  any  of- 
ficer of  a  public  institution  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled 
by  the  Commonwealth,  or  a  political  subdivision  thereof. 

SECTION  3.  Before  purchasing  any  supplies  or  any  materials 
belonging  to  any  class  in  the  annual  list  prepared  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency  otherwise  than  from  such  committee,  the 
proper  purchasing  officer  or  officers  of  the  Commonwealth,  or 
of  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  of  any  institution  owned, 
or  managed  and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  po- 
litical subdivision  thereof,  shall  on  and  after  the  first  day  of 
January,  one  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  twenty,  inquire  of 
the  Committee  on  Delinquency  whether  it  is  able  to  furnish  the 
particular  supplies  or  materials  desired,  or  a  substantial  equiva- 
lent thereof,  and  shall  purchase  such  materials  or  supplies,  or  a 
substantial  equivalent  thereof,  from  such  committee,  if  such 
supplies  or  materials,  or  a  substantial  equivalent  thereof,  can 
be  furnished  by  it. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  promptly 
to  reply  in  writing  to  all  inquiries  regarding  the  supplies  and 
materials  which  it  is  prepared  to  furnish. 

SECTION  4.  On  or  before  the  fifteenth  day  of  October  of  each 
year  the  officer  or  officers  whose  duty  it  is  to  make  purchases 
for  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  or 
any  institution,  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled  by  the  Com- 
monwealth, or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  shall  furnish  to 
the  Committee  on  Delinquency  an  estimate  of  the  character  and 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  63 

quantity  of  supplies  of  materials  which  in  the  opinion  of  such 
officer  or  officers  it  will  be  necessary  to  purchase  for  the  Com- 
monwealth, the  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  the  institution 
as  the  case  may  be. 

SECTION  5.  On  and  after  the  first  day  of  January  one  thou- 
sand, nine  hundred  and  twenty,  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the 
Auditor  General  of  the  Commonwealth,  or  for  the  auditing 
officer  or  officers  of  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  for  the 
treasurer  of  any  institution  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled 
by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  to 
approve  any  bill  for  supplies  or  materials  belonging  to  any  class 
included  in  the  annual  list  prepared  by  the  Committee  on  De- 
linquency if  purchased  otherwise  than  from  such  Committee 
during  the  year  for  which  such  list  shall  have  been  prepared, 
unless  there  shall  accompany  such  bill  a  letter  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency  stating  that  it  has  been  impossible  for 
such  committee  to  furnish  the  particular  supplies  or  materials 
desired,  or  a  substantial  equivalent  thereof. 

SECTION  6.  Whenever  there  shall  be  a  disagreement  between 
the  Committee-on  Delinquency,  and  the  Commonwealth,  or  any 
political  subdivision  thereof,  or  any  institution  owned,  or  man- 
aged and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  sub- 
division thereof,  on  the  question  whether  the  Committee  on 
Delinquency  is  able  to  furnish  a  substantial  equivalent  of  any 
materials  or  supplies  desired  by  the  Commonwealth,  or  such 
political  subdivision,  or  such  institution,  a  board  of  arbitra- 
tion shall  forthwith  be  created  to  determine  the  question.  Such 
board  shall  consist  of  three  members.  One  of  such  members 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  Committee  on  Delinquency,  one  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  Common- 
wealth, or  of  the  political  subdivision  thereof,  or  of  the  institu- 
tion as  the  case  may  be,  and  the  two  members  thus  appointed 
shall  choose  the  third  member.  Should  the  two  members  thus 


64  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

appointed  fail  within  ten  days  to  choose  the  third  member  of 
the  board  either  of  them  may  by  petition  setting  forth  the  facts 
apply  to  the  president  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of 
Dauphin  County  who  shall  forthwith  choose  a  third  member  of 
such  board. 

Immediately  after  its  selection  any  such  board  shall  meet  and 
determine  the  question  before  it.  It  shall  report  its  decision  in 
writing  to  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  and  such  decision  shall 
be  final  and  binding  both  upon  the  Committtee  on  Delinquency 
and  the  Commonwealth,  or  political  subdivision,  or  institution, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

SECTION  7.  All  acts  or  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  herewith  are 
hereby  repealed. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  65 


TEXT   OF   THE   BILLS    PROPOSED   BY   THE 
COMMISSION. 

AN  ACT 

Establishing  four  state  industrial  farms  dividing  the 
State  into  districts  for  such  purpose;  authorizing  the 
purchase  of  sites  and  the  erection  and  equipment 
of  buildings  and  works  for  such  institutions;  pro- 
viding for  their  government  and  control  by  boards  of 
managers  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  for 
the  commitment,  admission,  transfer,  employment,  and 
discharge  of  inmates  imposing  the  cost  of  maintain- 
ing, and,  except  in  certain  cases,  transporting  inmates 
on  the  counties;  and  of  sites,  buildings,  improvements, 
overhead  expenses,  and  the  transportation  of  certain 
prisoners  on  the  Commonwealth;  exempting  state 
industrial  farms  from  taxation  and  making  an  appro- 
priation. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  metjind  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  this  act  shall  be  known  and  may  be  cited  as  "The 
State  Industrial  Farms  Act  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  nineteen.'' 

SECTION  2.  There  are  hereby  established  four  state  in- 
dustrial farms  for  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth  dis- 
tricts respectively. 

SECTION  3.  The  first  district  shall  comprise  the  counties 
of  Berks,  Bucks,  Chester,  Dauphin,  Delaware,  Lancaster,  Leb- 
anon, Lehigh,  Montgomery,  Northampton,  and  York;  and  the 
state  industrial  farm  therein  located  shall  be  known  as  the 
*' Southeastern  Industrial  Farm." 

The   second   district   shall   comprise   the   counties   of    Brad- 


66  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

ford,  Carbon,  Columbia,  Lackawanna,  Luzerne,  Lycoming, 
Monroe,  Montour,  Northumberland,  Pike,  Schuylkill,  Snyder, 
Sullivan,  Susquehanna,  Tioga,  Union,  Wayne,  and  Wyoming; 
and  the  state  industrial  farm  therein  located  shall  be  known 
as  the  "Northeastern  Industrial  Farm." 

The  third  district  shall  comprise  the  counties  of  Armstrong, 
Butler,  Cameron,  Centre,  Clarion,  Clearfield,  Clinton,  Crawford, 
Elk,  Erie,  Forest,  Jefferson,  Lawrence,  McKean,  Mercer,  Potter, 
Venango,  and  Warren;  and  the  state  industrial  farm  therein 
located  shall  be  known  as  the  "Northwestern  Industrial  Farm." 

The  fourth  district  shall  comprise  the  counties  of  Adams, 
Beaver,  Bedford,  Blair,  Cambria,  Cumberland,  Fayette,  Frank- 
lin, Fulton,  Greene,  Huntingdon,  Indiana,  Juniata,  Mifflin, 
Perry,  Somerset,  Washington,  and  Westmoreland;  and  the 
state  industrial  farm  therein  located  shall  be  known  as  the 
"Southwestern  Industrial  Farm." 

SECTION  4.  Upon  the  approval  of  this  act  a  board  of 
managers  for  each  district  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. Each  board  shall  consist  of  either  five  or  seven 
reputable  citizens,  one  or  two  of  whom  shall  be  women. 
The  members  of  such  boards  shall  serve  without  compen- 
sation, but  all  of  their  expenses  actually  and  necessarily 
incurred  shall  be  paid  by  the  State  Treasurer  on  the  war- 
rant of  the  Auditor  General,  which  shall  be  issued  upon 
the  order  of  the  board,  countersigned  by  the  secretary  of 
the  Committee  of  Delinquency  of  this  Commonwealth.  The 
'members  of  the  various  boards  shall  serve  for  a  term  of 
five  years  and  their  successors  for  the  same  period.  The 
Governor  may  remove  any  of  the  managers  for  misconduct, 
incompetency,  or  neglect  of  duty,  and  in  case  of  a  vacancy 
for  any  cause  shall  fill  such  vacancy  by  appointment  for 
the  unexpired  term. 

SECTION  5.  The  board  of  managers  of  each  district  is 
hereby  authorized  by  a  majority  vote  to  select  a  suitable 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  67 

site  for  the  state  industrial  farm  of  the  district.  Such 
site  shall  be  within  the  district,  and  shall  either  be  chosen 
from  lands  donated  to  the  Commonwealth  for  the  purpose 
or  purchased  by  the  board  with  moneys  appropriated  or 
donated  for  the  purpose;  Provided,  That  any  such  site  shall 
not  contain  more  than  two  thousand  (2,000)  acres.  The 
title  to  land  donated  or  purhcased  as  herein  provided  shall 
be  taken  and  held  in  the  name  of  "The  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania/'  and  shall  be  examined  and  approved  by 
the  Attorney  General  prior  to  the  acceptance  or  purchase  of 
the  land.  In  the  selection  of  a  site  the  board  of  managers 
shall  take  into  consideration  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the 
institution,  the  accessibility  of  any  proposed  site  to  the  counties 
included  in  the  district,  and  all  or  as  many  as  practicable 
of  the  following  enumerated  advantages  and  resources.  The 
land  selected  and  purchased  shall  be  of  varied  topography  with 
natural  resources  and  advantages  for  many  forms  of  hus- 
bandry, fruit  growing,  and  stockraising ;  for  brick-making, 
and  for  the  preparation  of  all  other  road  and  paving  material; 
and  shall  have  good  railroad  drainage,  sewage,  and  water 
facilities.  Waste  land  or  land  requiring  drainage  may  be 
selected  if  deemed  susceptible  of  profitable  cultivation  after 
its  improvement. 

SECTION  6.  All  buildings  constructed  in  pursuance  of  this 
act  shall  be  plain  and  inexpensive  in  character  and  the  labor 
in  constructing  such  buildings,  improvements  and  facilities 
shall  be  supplied  by  persons  committed  to  the  state  industrial 
farm  or  confined  in  State  or  county  penal,  reformatory,  or 
correctional  institutions  so  far  as  found  practicable. 

The  boards  of  managers  shall  procure  all  necessary  materials ; 
erect  and  equip  such  buildings;  employ  such  skilled  labor 
as  cannot  be  furnished  by  the  persons  committed  to  their 
respective  industrial  farms  or  by  persons  confined  in  State, 
or  county  penal,  reformatory  or  correctional  institutions  and 


68  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

provide  all  proper  facilities  for  their  use  and  for  the  practical 
use  of  the  institution. 

When  the  board  of  managers  of  any  State  industrial  farm 
shall  have  made  all  preliminary  arrangements  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  buildings  and  equipment  therein,  they  shall 
notify  the  Governor  who  shall  issue  a  proclamation  announc- 
ing such  fact,  and  thereafter  prisoners  having  more  than 
thirty  days  to  serve  shall  be  transferred  to  such  State  in- 
dustrial farm  from  any  jail  or  workhouse  in  that  district 
on  the  order  of  the  Governor. 

SECTION  7.  The  boards  of  inspectors  of  the  State  peni- 
tentiaries, and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Industrial  Reformatory 
at  Huntingdon,  upon  the  request  of  a  board  of  managers 
of  a  State  industrial  farm,  are  hereby  authorized  to  transfer 
to  such  State  industrial  farm  from  their  respective  in- 
stitutions any  prisoners  of  special  or  mechanical  ability  therein 
who  may  be  found  in  the  judgment  of  such  board  and  the 
board  of  managers  of  such  State  industrial  farm  suitable 
for  the  purpose,  and  provide  transportation  and  proper  guards 
for  such  prisoners  and  while  such  prisoners  remain  at  such 
State  industrial  farm  they  shall  be  subject  to  the  orders  of 
the  inspectors  of  the  institution  from  which  they  were  trans- 
ferred as  to  their  return,  and  in  all  other  respect,  except  as 
to  discipline  and  government.  While  at  such  State  industrial 
farm  they  shall  be  under  the  control,  discipline,  and  govern- 
ment, and  subject  to  the  orders,  of  the  board  of  managers 
of  such  State  industrial  farm  and  its  executive  officers. 

The  expense  of  transporting  and  transferring  prisoners 
used  in  the  construction  of  buildings  and  equipment  to 
and  from  any  State  industrial  farm  shall  be  paid  by  the 
State  Treasurer  upon  the  warrant  of  the  Auditor  General 
out  of  any  moneys  appropriated  for  the  establishment  of 
such  State  industrial  farm.  The  Auditor  General  shall  issue 
warrants  for  such  purpose  upon  the  order  of  the  execu- 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  69 

tive    officer    of    the    board    of    managers    of    such    State    in- 
dustrial farm. 

The  maintenance  of  such  prisoners  as  are  transferred  from 
a  State  penitentiary  or  reformatory  shall  be  paid  by  the  in- 
stitution from  which  they  are  transferred,  but  the  cost 
of  such  maintenance  in  excess  of  the  average  per  capita 
cost  of  maintaining  prisoners  at  the  institution  from  which 
such  prisoners  shall  have  been  transferred  shall  be  refunded 
to  any  such  institution  out  of  any  moneys  appropriated  for 
the  establishment  of  the  State  industrial  farm. 

SECTION  8.  When  any  State  industrial  farm  shall  have 
been  established  and  ready  for  operation,  a  superintendent 
and  matron  and  such  other  officers  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary  shall  be  appointed  by  the  proper  board  of  managers. 
Any  persons  so  appointed  shall  hold  their  offices  respectively 
during  the  pleasure  of  the  board  of  managers.  The  compen- 
sation of  all  such  persons  shall  be  fixed  by  the  board  of 
managers. 

SECTION  9.  When  in  any  district  the  arrangements  for  the 
reception  of  ^inmates  shall  have  been  completed,  the  Court 
of  quarter  sessions  of  every  county  embraced  in  such  dis- 
trict shall  transfer  from  the  county  prisons  and  jails  re- 
spectively to  the  State  industrial  farm  of  the  district  all 
persons  who  shall  have  been  sentenced  to  any  of  said  county 
prisons  and  jails  for  any  crime,  misdemeanor  or  felony,  murder 
and  voluntary  manslaughter  excepted,  or  who  shall  have 
been  committed  to  any  of  such  county  prisons  and  jails  for 
non-payment  of  any  fine  or  penalty,  or  for  non-payment  of 
costs,  or  for  default  in  complying  with  any  order  of  court 
entered  in  any  prosecution  for  desertion  or  non-support,  and 
any  other  persons  legally  confined  in  any  of  said  county  jails 
or  prisons  except  persons  confined  awaiting  trial  or  detained 
as  witnesses;  Provided,  That  any  person  whose  term  will  ex- 
pire within  thirty  days  shall  not  be  transferred. 


70  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

Thereafter,  when  any  person  is  convicted  in  any  of  the 
said  courts  of  any  offense,  crime,  misdemeanor,  or  felony, 
murder  and  voluntary  manslaughter  excepted,  the  punish- 
ment of  which  is  or  may  hereafter  be  imprisonment  in  any 
county  jail  or  prison,  the  said  court  shall,  if  sentence  of 
imprisonment  for  thirty  days  or  more  be  imposed  upon  such 
person,  commit  such  person  to  the  State  industrial  farm  of 
the  district  in  which  said  court  may  have  jurisdiction.  If 
sentence  of  imprisonment  for  more  than  ten  but  less  than 
thirty  days  be  imposed,  the  court  may  in  its  discretion  com- 
mit such  person  to  the  State  industrial  farm  for  the  district. 

Courts  of  record  and  courts  not  of  record  of  the  counties 
included  in  any  such  district  shall  hereafter  commit  to  the 
State  industrial  farm  of  the  district  all  persons  who  might 
be  lawfully  committed  to  the  county  jail  or  prison  on  charges 
of  vagrancy,  drunkenness,  or  disorderly  conduct,  or  for  de- 
fault or  non-payment  of  any  costs,  fine,  or  penalty,  or  for 
default  in  complying  with  any  order  of  court  entered  in 
any  prosecution  for  desertion  or  non-support,  where  in  any 
such  case  the  commitment  will  be  for  a  period  of  thirty 
days  or  more.  If  the  commitment  be  from  ten  to  thirty 
days  the  committing  authority  may  in  its  discretion  commit 
any  such  person  to  the  State  industrial  farm. 

The  superintendent  may  under  the  direction  of  the  court 
of  quarter  sessions  remove  any  inmate  to  the  county  jail  for 
the  unexpired  term  of  his  or  her  term  of  commitment, 
or  to  the  poorhouse  of  the  proper  city  or  county,  or  to  any 
hospital  or  lunatic  asylum  in  such  county  as  circumstances 
may  require. 

SECTION  10.  The  cost  of  transporting  any  persons  com- 
mitted to  a  State  industrial  farm  shall  be  paid  by  the 
county  from  which  the  prisoner  is  committed,  and  the  sheriff 
of  the  county  shall  receive  the  same  mileage,  and  fees  for 
prisoners  committed  to  a  State  industrial  farm  as  are  now 
allowed  by  law  for  transporting  prisoners  committed  to  the 


Report  of  Pencd  Commission  71 

State  penitentiaries.  When  any  prisoner  is  discharged  from 
a  State  industrial  farm  the  superintendent  thereof  shall  pro- 
cure for  him  a  railroad  ticket  to  any  point  to  which  said 
prisoner  may  desire  to  go  not  farther  from  such  State  in- 
dustrial farm  than  the  point  from  which  he  was  sentenced,  and 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  superintendent,  or  his  duly  au- 
thorized agent,  to  accompany  the  prisoner  to  the  railroad 
station,  deliver  the  ticket  to  the  proper  railroad  conductor, 
and  formally  release  the  prisoner  on  the  train  which  he  takes 
for  his  destination. 

SECTION  n.  It  shall  be  the  purpose  of  every  State  in- 
dustrial farm  to  employ  the  prisoners  committed,  or  trans- 
ferred thereto,  in  work  on  or  about  the  buildings  and  farm, 
and  in  growing  produce  and  supplies  for  its  own  use,  and 
for  the  other  institutions  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  road  materials  and  in  making  brick,  tile,  paving  mat- 
erial, and  such  other  products  or  materials  as  may  be  found 
practicable  for  the  use  of  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political 
subdivision  therein,  and  in  other  industries  which  may  be 
approved  by  the  board  of  managers  of  the  State  industrial 
farm  and  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  of  this  Common- 
wealth. Should  any  State  industrial  farm  produce  supplies 
or  materials  in  excess  of  its  needs  and  demands,  or  in  ex- 
cess of  the  demands  of  the  Commonwealth,  or  of  any  political 
subdivision  thereof,  such  surplus  may  be  sold  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Delinquency  at  the  prevailing  market  price. 

SECTION  12.  Any  State  industrial  farm  shall  make  such  re- 
ports and  keep  such  accounts  as  are  now  or  may  hereafter 
be  required  by  law,  and  shall  in  all  such  matters  be  subject 
to  the  rules  and  regulations  established  by  the  Committee  on 
Delinquency. 

SECTION  13.  The  original  cost  of  the  site  and  buildings 
of  any  State  industrial  farm,  and  all  additions  thereto,  and 
all  fixed  overhead  charges  in  conducting  the  institution,  shall 


72  Report  of  Penal  Commission 

be   paid  by  the   Commonwealth   out   of   moneys   appropriated 
for  the  purpose  by  the  General  Assembly. 

The  cost  of  the  care  and  maintenance  of  the  inmates  of 
such  institution  shall  be  certified  monthly  to  the  counties  from 
which  inmates  shall  have  been  committed.  Such  cost  shall 
be  paid  by  the  counties  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  days 
spent  by  the  inmates  committed  from  each  county.  All  pay- 
ments shall  be  on  requisition  of  the  board  of  managers  and 
on  warrants  of  the  county  commissioners  countersigned  by 
the  county  controller. 

SECTION  14.  Whenever  it  shall  be  found  that  any  State 
industrial  farm  can  accommodate  and  care  for  a  greater 
number  of  prisoners,  the  Committee  on  Delinquency  with 
approval  of  the  Governor  may  order  to  be  transferred  to 
such  State  industrial  farm  from  the  State  penitentiaries,  or 
from  the  Pennsylvania  Industrial  Reformatory  at  Huntingdon, 
or  from  any  other  State  industrial  farm  such  prisoner  or 
prisoners  as  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  on  Delin- 
quency will  be  improved  in  health  or  in  industrial  de- 
velopment or  otherwise  by  such  transfer.  Any  prisoner  so 
transferred  may  be  returned  to  the  institution  from  which 
he  was  transferred  whenever  the  Committee  on  Delinquency 
after  consultation  with  the  board  of  managers  of  the  State 
industrial  farm  to  which  said  prisoner  may  have  been  trans- 
ferred and  with  the  approval  of  the  Governor  shall  consider 
such  return  advisable. 

The  cost  of  transporting  any  prisoner  transferred  as  pro- 
vided in  this  section  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  moneys  appro- 
priated by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  Committee  on  De- 
linquency. 

The  cost  of  the  maintenance  and  care  of  any  prisoner 
so  transferred  shall  be  paid  by  the  county  in  which  he 
shall  have  been  convicted  on  the  basis  of  the  average  daily 
charge  for  maintaining  prisoners  at  the  State  industrial  farm 
to  which  such  prisoner  shall  have  been  transferred. 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  73 

Full  information  respecting  the  transfer  of  any  prisoner 
or  prisoners  shall  be  promptly  forwarded  by  the  Committee 
on  Delinquency  to  the  proper  officials  of  the  county  in  which 
such  prisoner  or  prisoners  have  been  convicted  or  sentenced. 

SECTION  15.  All  the  property  real  and  personal  authorized 
to  be  held  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion by  the  Commonwealth  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof. 

SECTION  16.  The  rules  and  regulations  governing  State 
industrial  farms  shall  be  uniform  and  shall  be  made  by  the 
Committee  on  Delinquency.  They  shall  be  general  in  character 
and  the  respective  boards  of  managers  of  each  institution 
may  add  local  rules  not  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  and  sub- 
stance of  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  Committee  on  De- 
linquency. 

SECTION  17.  To  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  ($200,000),  or  so  much 
thereof  as  shall  be  necessary,  is  hereby  appropriated  but  not 
more  than  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($50,000)  shall  be  expended 
for  the  purchase  and  equipment  of  the  State  industrial  farm 
of  any  district. 

SECTION  iK.  The  act  approved  the  twentieth  day  of  July 
one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventeen  entitled: — "An  Act 
establishing  nine  county  industrial  farms,  workhouses,  and 
reformatories;  dividing  the  State  into  districts  for  such  pur- 
pose; authorizing  the  purchase  of  sites  and  the  erection 
and  equipment  of  buildings  and  works  for  such  institutions; 
providing  for  their  government  and  control  and  for  the  com- 
mitment, admission,  employment,  and  discharge  of  inmates; 
providing  for  an  apartment  for  inebriates  and  the  admission 
and  commitment  of  inmates  thereto;  imposing  the  cost  of 
maintenance  on  the  inmates  in  certain  cases;  imposing  the 
cost  of  the  institutions  and  the  maintenance  of  certain  inmates 
on  the  counties,  and  conferring  certain  powers  and  duties  on 
certain  county  officers,"  and  all  other  acts  and  parts  of  acts 
inconsistent  herewith,  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed. 


74  Report  of  Penal  Commission 


AN  ACT 

Providing  for  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  land  to  be 
used  for  the  benefit  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary ;  regu- 
lating the  operation  of  the  tract  and  the  duties  of  the 
Secretary  of  Agriculture,  and  the  Commissioner  of 
Forestry,  and  making  an  appropriation. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
'Assembly  met  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
some,  That  the  Board  of  Inspectors  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary 
is  authorized  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  in  eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania, containing  not  less  than  six  hundred  or  more  than  twelve 
hundred  acres,  and  suitable  for  general  agriculture,  fruit-raising, 
and  stock-raising,  with  provision  also  for  brick  making,  and  the 
preparation  of  road  and  paving  materials.  A  tract  shall  be 
selected  which  as  far  as  practicable  has  good  railroad  drainage, 
sewerage,  and  water  facilities. 

SECTION  2.  Suitable  and  sufficient  buildings  shall  be  erected, 
and  the  work  of  constructing  buildings,  outhouses  and  other 
structures  of  any  nature,  shall  so  for  as  practicable  be  per- 
formed by  inmates  of  the  Penitentiary. 

SECTION  3.  The  Board  shall  provide  the  tract  with  sufficient 
stock  and  poultry  to  aid  in  carrying  out  the  intent  of  this  act. 

SECTION  4.  In  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  this  act,  a  con- 
tract for  performance  of  work,  or  furnishing  of  material, 
which  exceeds  five  hundred  dollars  shall  be  let  only  after  ad- 
vertisement and  competitive  bidding. 

SECTION  5.  The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  shall  provide  from 
time  to  time,  when  requested  by  the  Board,  competent  experts  in 


Report  of  Penal  Commission 


75 


agriculture  under  whose  supervision  and  counsel  the  tract  of 
land  shall  be  operated.  The  Commissioner  of  Forestry  shall 
likewise  on  request  provide  experts  in  forestry  to  counsel  and 
supervise  as  aforesaid. 

SECTION  6.  In  addition  to  the  agricultural  work  herein  pro- 
vided for,  the  inmates  may  be  employed  at  other  occupations 
and  trades. 

SECTION  7.  The  tract  of  land  herein  provided  for  shall  be 
operated  for  the  benefit  of  the  Penitentiary,  and  with  an  aim  to 
develop  to  the  highest  degree  the  mental,  moral,  and  physical 
qualities  of  the  inmates  of  the  Penitentiary.  So  far  as  practi- 
cable the  tract  shall  be  operated  by  the  inmates  of  the  institu- 
tion, who  may  be  removed  to  the  tract  in  the  discretion  and 
under  the  regulations  of  the  Board. 

SECTION  8.  To  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much 
thereof  as  may  be  necessary,  is  hereby  specifically  appropriated. 
Payment  of  such  moneys  shall  be  on  requisition  of  the  Board 
and  on  warrant  of  the  Auditor  General. 


76  Report  of  Penal  Commission 


AN  ACT 

Prohibiting  fees  or  allowances  and  contracts  for  fur- 
nishing meals  to  the  inmates  of  penal,  correctional,  or 
reformatory  institutions,  owned,  or  managed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivi- 
sion thereof,  and  providing  for,  and  regulating  the 
purchase  of  foodstuffs,  and  other  materials  necessary 
for  furnishing  meals  to  such  inmates  and  the  prepara- 
tion thereof. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the*  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  met  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  from  and  after  the  approval  of  this  act,  it  shall  be 
unlawful  for  the  Commonwealth  or  any  political  subdivision 
thereof  or  the  board  of  inspectors,  managers,  trustees,  or  other 
officers  of  any  penal,  correctional,  or  reformatory  institution, 
owned,  or  managed  and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or 
any  political  subdivision  thereof,  to  enter  into  a  contract  with 
the  warden,  superintendent,  or  other  officer  in  charge  of  any 
such  institution,  or  with  any  other  person,  agreeing  to  pay  to 
such  warden,  superintendent  or  other  officer  or  person  a  fixed 
price  per  meal  or  per  day,  week,  month,  or  year,  for  meals  fur- 
nished to  the  inmates  of  any  such  institution. 

SECTION  2.  All  fees  and  allowances  to  the  sheriff,  or  other 
officer,  or  officers,  of  any  county,  or  other  political  subdivision 
thereof,  or  to  any  warden,  superintendent,  or  other  officer,  or 
officers,  of  any  penal,  correctional,  or  reformatory  institution, 
owned,  or  managed  and  controlled  by  the  Commonwealth,  or 
any  political  subdivision  thereof,  for  supplying  meals  to  the  in- 
mates of  such  institution  are  hereby  abolished  and  declared  un- 
lawful; Provided,  That  this  section  shall  not  affect  the  fees  or 
allowances  of  any  sheriff,  warden,  superintendent,  or  other  of- 
ficer now  in  office,  or  employed,  during  the  term  for  which  he 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  77 

shall  have  been  elected,  appointed,  or  employed,   as  the  case 
may  be. 

SECTION  3.  All  food  stuffs  and  other  materials  required  to 
supply  meals  to  the  inmates  of  penal,  correctional,  and  reform- 
atory institutions,  owned,  or  managed  and  controlled  by  the 
Commonwealth,  or  any  political  subdivision  thereof,  shall  be 
purchased,  and  paid  for  as  other  supplies  required  for  use  in  such 
institutions  are  purchased  and  paid  for,  and  all  meals  for  such 
inmates  shall  be  prepared  and  served  by  persons  employed  for 
the  purpose  at  such  weekly,  monthly,  or  annual  compensation, 
as  the  authorities  in  charge  of  such  institutions  shall  prescribe; 
Provided,  That  all  contracts  for  furnishing  foodstuffs  or  other 
materials  required  to  supply  meals  to  such  inmates  involving  an 
expenditure  of  more  than  one  hundred  dollars  shall  be  awarded 
to  the  lowest  satisfactory  bidder  after  public  advertisement  in 
at  least  two  newspapers  of  general  circulation  in  the  political 
subdivision  in  which  the  institution  requiring  such  foodstuffs 
or  materials  is  located. 

SECTION  4.  All  acts  or  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  herewith  are 
hereby  repealed. 


78  Report  of  Penal  Commission 


AN  ACT 

Amending  section  six  of  an  act  entitled  "An  act 
authorizing  the  release  on  probation  of  certain  con- 
victs, instead  of  imposing  sentences;  the  appointment 
of  probation  and  parole  officers,  and  the  payment  of 
their  salaries  and  expenses;  regulating  the  manner  of 
sentencing  convicts  in  certain  cases,  and  providing  for 
their  release  on  parole;  their  conviction  of  crime  dur- 
ing parole,  and  their  re-arrest  and  conviction  for  breach 
of  parole;  and  extending  the  powers  and  duties  of 
boards  of  prison  inspectors  of  penitentiaries,"  approved 
the  nineteenth  day  of  June  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
eleven,  by  providing  that  the  minimum  sentence  shall 
in  no  case  exceed  one-third  of  the  maximum  sentence. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General 
Assembly  met,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  section  six  of  an  act  approved  the  nineteenth  day 
of  June  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eleven  (Pamphlet 
Laws  one  thousand  and  fifty-five)  entitled,  "An  act  authoriz- 
ing the  release  on  probation  of  certain  convicts,  instead  of  im- 
posing sentences;  the  appointment  of  probation  and  parole  of- 
ficers, and  the  payment  of  their  salaries  and  expenses;  regulat- 
ing the  manner  of  sentencing  convicts  in  certain  cases,  and 
providing  for  their  release  on  parole;  their  conviction  of  crime 
during  parole,  and  their  re-arrest  and  reconviction  for  breach 
of  parole;  and  extending  the  powers  and  duties  of  boards  of 
prison  inspectors  of  penitentiaries,"  which  reads  as  follows: 

"SECTION  6.  Whenever  any  person,  convicted  in  any  court 
of  this  Commonwealth  of  any  crime,  shall  be  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment in  any  penitentiary  of  the  State,  the  court,  instead 
of  pronouncing  upon  such  convict  a  definite  or  fixed  term  of 
imprisonment,  shall  pronounce  upon  such  convict  a  sentence  of 
imprisonment  for  an  indefinite  term,  stating  in  such  sentence 
the  minimum  and  maximum  limits  thereof;  and  the  maximum 


Report  of  Penal  Commission  79 

limit  shall  never  exceed  the  maximum  time  now  or  hereafter 
prescribed  as  a  penalty  for  such  offense:  Provided,  That  no 
persons  sentenced  for  an  indeterminate  term  shall  be  entitled  to 
any  benefits  under  the  act,  entitled  "An  Act  providing  for  the 
commutation  of  sentences  for  good  behavior  of  convicts  in 
prisons,  penitentiaries,  workhouses,  and  county  jails  in  this 
State,  and  regulations  governing  the  same/'  approved  the  elev- 
enth day  of  May,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  one,"  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

SECTION  6.  Whenever  any  person  convicted  in  any  court  of 
this  Commonwealth  of  any  crime,  shall  be  sentenced  to  impris- 
onment for  a  period  exceeding  one  year  in  any  penitentiary  or 
other  institution  of  this  Commonwealth,  or  in  any  county  or 
municipal  institution,  the  court,  instead  of  pronouncing  upon 
such  convict  a  definite  or  fixed  term  of  imprisonment,  shall  pro- 
nounce upon  such  convict  a  sentence  of  imprisonment  for  an 
indefinite  term:  stating  in  such  sentence  the  minimum  and 
maximum  limits  thereof;  and  the  maximum  limit  thereof  shall 
never  exceed  the  maximum  time  now  or  hereafter  prescribed 
as  a  penalty  for  such  offense,  and  the  minimum  limit  shall  never 
exceed  one-third  of  the  maximum  sentence  prescribed  by  any 
court:  Provided,  That  any  convict  in  the  State  Penitentiaries 
who  is  now  serving  under  a  sentence  or  sentences  imposed  after 
the  thirtieth  day  of  June,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  eleven,  may  when  he  or  she  shall  have  served  one- 
third  of  such  maximum  sentence  or  sentences,  be  eligible  to 
parole  under  the  provisions  and  subject  to  the  conditions  of  the 
act  to  which  this  is  an  amendment.  And  provided,  further, 
That  no  person  sentenced  for  an  indeterminate  term  shall  be  en- 
titled to  any  benefits  under  the  act  entitled,  "An  act  providing 
for  the  commutation  of  sentences  for  good  behavior  of  convicts 
in  prisons,  penitentiaries,  workhouses,  and  county  jails  in  this 
State,  and  regulations  governing  the  same,"  approved  the  elev- 
enth day  May,  Anno  Domini  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
one. 


PRESS  OF 

ALLEN,  LANE  AND  SCOTT 
PHILADELPHIA 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFOKNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


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AUQ1 

P  2    1978 

APR    9  1979 


21  1979 


15m-12,'24 


YC  35851 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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